It's been just over a week since Election Tuesday, and it's time to wrap up our series Virginia Votes. We're checking in once more with voters across the commonwealth, to see how they're feeling about the next four years. Today we hear from liberals and conservatives, who say the issues at stake this year were not so different than previous elections.
The Liberal
Joe Ivers is a retired school teacher and administrator who now lives in Blacksburg, Virginia. In last week’s election he was a Hillary Clinton supporter. We met at a local sandwich shop.
Ivers lived and worked in northern Virginia for 30 years and he supported Democratic candidates.
“I came down here and I noticed I went from one elitist community to another elitist community from northern Virginia to Blacksburg,” Ivers says.
Extra Audio Below: Hear from Virginians who voted for Trump
Last time we spoke, Ivers talked about ways he was reaching out to hear the perspectives outside of what he calls that ‘elitist bubble.’
“When I talked politics to them, they were looking for jobs," Ivers says. "All high school education, some Junior College education, hard workers, very hard workers, but not in the same elite bubble that I’m in and I just thought it was incredible that they were saying, 'I’m voting for Trump.' And I said, 'Why? Look what he’s done.' And they said, 'I don’t care what he’s done. I want someone who is going to make it better for me,'."
He worries Democrats would have done more for people not as fortunate as he’s been.
"It’s going to be a rude awakening when president elect Trump becomes President Trump and his programs start falling into place because we’ve got Republicans across the board," Ivers says.
"There’s no checks and balances so they’ve got almost a free run. And what I see is that the people who are suffering are going to continue to suffer but even more so. The tax breaks he's putting forth are going to help me and the people above me. And the people below me --I’m talking about socioeconomics completely -- the people making less than me are going to suffer even longer because the trickle down effect just doesn’t seem to work and that’s what they’re banking on."
But Ivers says, he has always and will always support his president.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be very tough," Ivers says. "But we have to step back and support our commander in chief and then we come up with something that we really are adamantly against. [Then] we can voice our opinions - but not through fear and hate. I think we’ve got to do it through the legal system, people coming together going to their congress men and women and have them be our voices. He was not my choice but he’s there."
The Conservatives
In Goochland, just outside of Richmond, is Tayne Renmark's small business -- an antique and interior-design store.
For her, the top issue of this election was the economy.
"I believe in a trickle-down economics -- so I think that when the burden of taxes is less on everyone then people will go out and spend more money on all sorts of things. And being an interior designer, it's a little bit of a luxury item," Renmark says. "Although, I think everyone needs one. It's something that I think people will be able to more easily afford which will then boost my business."
Renmark says the past eight years have been tough for her business, and extra taxes and rising bills have made things even harder. She hopes that will change.
"I think that there's going to be a sort of new found optimism for everyone once Trump's tax policies and things get into place, things will look a little brighter and rosier for us all," she says.
We were also joined by Tayne's father, Ronnie. He's a painter and also a member of the family business. He describes himself as a capitalist, and says Clinton is a socialist.
"The government doesn't own my money. Period," Ronnie Renmark says. "And that's what they do when they take it to help somebody else. I'm a very generous person, it doesn't mean I don't want to help someone, but the government has no right to my income, sorry. And when we live in a society when the government thinks that it does -- own your money -- what a horrid idea."
David Winston is a client of the Renmarks'. In addition to the economy, he also has serious concerns about polarization. He says he's cautiously optimistic Trump can bring people together, but also doesn't think that it's one person's responsibility.
"And I want this president to extend an olive branch to the Democratic Party. They're going to be part of the solution and not the problem," says Winston.
At the same time, Winston says his liberal friends claim a moral superiority that makes it tough to talk about the issues.
"My liberal friends say to me 'Well, I'm liberal because I'm compassionate.' And I go 'Wait, I'm conservative but I'm compassionate.' And the next thing they say to me is 'I'm generous.' And I go 'I'm generous,' " Winston says.
Tayne Renmark feels attacked by the left. She says she's not a racist, she's not a terrible person she just wants everyone to be happy and she thinks that's what Trump will do.
"I think that when the economy prospers everybody's happy," Tayne Renmark says. "And people will be, just in general, happier. There are a lot of not so happy people out there now, so. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the world being very happy, or at least the United States being very happy in the next four years. It's going to be great."
