SUPERIOR, Wis. — Superior is the county seat of Douglas County, in northwest Wisconsin, and has a population of more than 26,000 people.
Democrats have won the county for decades, but not by as much as they used to. In 2012, Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney by about 30 points in Douglas. Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in the county four years later, but only by about seven points. Joe Biden won by a similar margin in 2020.
)
Spectrum News spoke with voters from Superior who fell across the political spectrum.
“I think it’s the perfect time to elect a woman president,” said Charlotte Ferstl, who was waiting in line for a rally with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz last weekend.
“I’m not happy with either party,” said Abram Pauna, outside the Superior Library.
“I think we would be better off with Trump,” said Beth Mishler, outside of her home in Superior.
“I think we’re not as blue as people think we are, or as we have been in the past,” Mishler said.
Mishler, 57, said she’s voting for Trump because of the economy.
“First time in my life I’ve had to have two jobs,” she said. “So I work almost 80 hours a week, you know, just to try to make it. And you can see my house is not that great. But it’s — still it’s hard. Everything is hard. Gas is expensive; food is insane. I work in a grocery store. I have watched all this happen, and it’s sad, you know?”
But not all conservatives are sold on Trump. Pauna, who said he aligns more with the Republican party but feels it has left him behind, said he will vote for a third-party candidate, though he’s not sure who yet.
“I realize I’m probably throwing away my vote, but I’m trying to make a statement,” he said.
Pauna said he’s never cast a ballot for Trump and this year won’t be any different.
“Well, I want them to… If they purport to be a family man, to actually be a family man,” Pauna said of Trump. “I think that we should honor our vows, and I don’t think that he has in the past. And so I don’t think he’s a great representative of the conservative spirit.”
During his first term, Trump appointed three of the six Supreme Court justices who ended the constitutional right to an abortion. When Walz visited Superior last week, part of his speech focused on protecting women’s reproductive rights. This is an issue Ferstl said is most important to her, and the reason she’s voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I have a lot of people in the LGBTQ community around me, and we’ve always voted blue in my family,” Ferstl said. “It’s really important for me to uphold that voting history.”
Harris, Walz, Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have all repeatedly visited Wisconsin this year. The margin of victory in Wisconsin was about 20,000 votes in the past two presidential elections, and all signs point to another close outcome in November. So any change in Superior and other counties could make a difference this year.