Voters in one of the richest counties in America are mixed at best on whether they will donate to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, even as they broadly agree on the high stakes the election presents.
Donald Smart, an attorney in Stratford said he donated to President Biden’s 2020 campaign, but is not sure if he will lend his support this time around.
“I still have that to decide.”
The socioeconomic status of Fairfield County voters range from members of the Easton Democratic Town Committee, located in a rich town, to residents of various income levels in bustling cities like Stamford, to people in Bridgeport and Stratford, among some of the poorest.
While most of the voters surveyed by Connecticut Public identify as middle class, they live in a county that leads the state with political donations this election cycle. But they say Biden’s poor debate performance worries them as Rep. Jim Himes, who represents Connecticut’s 4th District of Fairfield County and parts of New Haven County, is now the first federally elected official in Connecticut to openly call on Biden to drop out of the race as fears mount over the president’s fitness for office and his chances to defeat Donald Trump.
Nanette DeWester, chair of the Easton Democratic Town Committee,says she doesn’t know of anyone who stopped donating to the DTC as a result of the debate, even as she acknowledged his disastrous debate against Donald Trump.
“It didn't at all diminish the donations that we received, and I've received no negative response to us in any way about supporting the Democrats or the ticket or the Biden Harris campaign,” DeWester said.
DeWester said many Democrats in Easton are emboldened and they’re angry, but not at Biden.
“Trump has promised to end American democracy as we know it, DeWester said. “I've had an earful from voters locally and beyond who cannot understand why we aren't talking about that.”
She took issue with national media attention on Biden’s gaffes, not on the dangers of a Trump presidency, referring to Project2025, a conservative plan to remake the federal government in its image if Trump wins election. It goes from eliminating the Department of Education, to banning abortion pills and politicizing the federal bureaucracy among others.
Tom Kelly, the former chair of the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee declined to answer specifically if he would donate this year, but said he would possibly volunteer his time in battleground states.
“If I have to go to Pennsylvania, that's a swing state, to go door to door, I'll go to Pennsylvania. I'll go to New Hampshire. I'll go to places where we need support,” Kelly said.
But other voters like the Greater Stamford Young Democrats Executive Vice President, Geraldine Uribe who also works as an assistant to Mayor Caroline Simmons say they haven’t donated at all so far, but since Biden is the nominee, she says she’s open to it.
Even though she hasn’t herself donated, she said the organization is working on voter outreach, prioritizing state and local candidates who will continue to advocate for residents.
“No matter how the Presidential election ends up… they at least have a very strong state of elected officials,” Uribe said.
In Bridgeport, Callie Heilmann, the co-director of Bridgeport Generation Now Votes, a voter outreach group, previously donated to Biden’s campaign earlier this year. Heilmann says she’s still going to donate to Biden’s campaign.
She’s currently giving $25 a month to his campaign, and has a Biden/Harris sign that she says is more about defeating Trump than anything else. Heilmann is open to voting for someone else if Biden drops out, with a catch.
“I want to back a candidate who can win,” Heilmann said. “So if folks think it's not Biden, they better start saying who it is who can beat Trump.”
