BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A group of political tourists got a first-person perspective of the frenetic American election season during their visit to the Lehigh Valley on Thursday.
Hosted by the company Political Tours, which brings people to “the most fascinating areas in the world” to engage directly with politicians and community members with the help of an expert guide, the visitors came to the SteelStacks campus on Halloween to talk about the American election.
Of course, the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a huge point of discourse, but talk of local races and their importance came up as well.
Participants voiced a wealth of experiences from their time in Northampton County, which provided a ground-level view of the American political spectrum, and a better understanding of the current election run.
They met at the ArtsQuest Center with Don Cunningham, a former Bethlehem mayor and now head of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., then visited with journalists at Lehigh Valley Public Media at the Univest Public Media Center.
The visitors said they could sense the divisiveness in the U.S. among Republicans and Democrats.
Some picked up on the stark difference between the politics of the United Kingdom, where election seasons are notably shorter and advertisements are more strictly controlled, to the seemingly endless campaign season in America.
Others still remarked on how America, in general, has become so preoccupied with internal issues that it has lost sight of its role in the dealings of the world — a potentially dangerous folly.
But all came with one mission: to learn as much as possible about how American politics works, and how it compares to their dealings at home.
Political Tours guide Malcolm Brown said the stop in the Lehigh Valley was just “the right place at the right time in terms of being the swingiest part of the country.”
“They’re really curious," Brown said. "In many cases, I think people overseas are following this more closely than maybe some Americans, and they’re fascinated, but also self-interested, because what happens here is going to have implications for their home countries."
Brown said it’s quite clear that America is “really split,” cheekily adding “If we had a drinking game for the number of times people are saying it’s a coin toss, we’d all be quite drunk by now.”
“I've never seen a situation where there's so much uncertainty, uncertainty not just about the result, but about the potential aftermath."Malcolm Brown
“I've never seen a situation where there's so much uncertainty, uncertainty not just about the result, but about the potential aftermath," Brown said. "I note a sense of sort of gloom and concern which I've rarely detected in the American political system from our travels here.
"So it definitely seems like a febrile atmosphere."
Visitors from the United Kingdom are often shocked about the American electoral system, Brown said, and elements like the electoral college as opposed to a national voting system or ranked voting, which could play a part in the “turmoil and disagreement and vitriol” those from across the pond see in U.S. politics.
Tourist Paddy Wills said he found the atmosphere around campaigning in the states to be “very intense,” with “every trick in the book being rolled out.”
It’s become quite a challenge to canvass, Wills said, as it can frequently come down to appealing to just one or two items a voter cares for — potentially while ignoring other issues.
“We learned just before this meeting, we went to one of the places where they go do door to door canvassing, and they haven't just printed one leaflet. They've printed five leaflets according to what the database says that person's likely to be voting on,” Wills said.
“So when they go to the door and they're handing one of them [to a voter], you know, it's incredibly tactical. It's become so advanced and so sophisticated — that is extraordinary. And, I mean, I can't see where that ends… We seem to have a terribly low turnout. So there's all that sophistication, which is possibly wasted if they can't get the turnout.”
Journalist Alex Norris with Political Tours said he was interested to find the state of local news and how it has managed to survive in the modern day and age, especially considering the election and the potential animosity between parties.
It’s a matter of presenting both sides strategically, Norris said, and informing the public as much as possible — even in a time when some are more than willing to oppose particular outlets.
And in that observance, Norris may have picked up on a solution to many of the issues plaguing modern American politics — a limited viewpoint.
“I personally think that cross pollination is a good thing, like when you talk about exposing people to Democrats and Republicans and sort of having these conversations," Norris said. "I think that's a good thing. I don't like how in the modern day, a lot of people go to one news outlet and don't trust the other one if they're of a certain political persuasion."
