戴夫·罗思勒是爱荷华州一名前特朗普支持者，他对经济感到失望，认为中产阶级家庭正在受苦，而总统却在获利。
Dave Roethler is a former Donald Trump supporter in Iowa who feels disillusioned about the economy and believes middle-class families are suffering while the president benefits.
史蒂文·斯隆 新汉普顿，爱荷华州 — — 站在他位于玉米和大豆田覆盖的东北爱荷华州这片地区家门口的门廊里，戴夫·罗思勒不知道在他支持的特朗普在第一个任期期间发生了什么变化。
STEVEN SLOAN NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — Standing in the doorway of his home near the corn and soybean fields that blanket this stretch of northeast Iowa, Dave Roethler doesn’t know what happened to the Donald Trump he supported during his first presidency.
当时特朗普“干得相当出色”，这位70岁的学校清洁工说。但如今罗思勒 lament 经济形势是“中产阶级家庭承受了最大的冲击”，而特朗普“将会大获全胜”。他嗤笑共和党总统为赢得诺贝尔和平奖或登上拉什莫尔山的努力。
Trump did a “heck of a good job” back then, the 70-year-old school custodian said. But now Roethler laments an economy in which “it’s the middle-class families that are taking the big hit” while Trump is “going to come out way ahead.”He scoffs at the Republican president’s effort to win accolades such as the Nobel Peace Prize or a spot on Mount Rushmore.
“我认为他有夸大妄想症，”罗思勒说，他计划下个月在一个曾经被特朗普以13个百分点优势拿下的州里支持民主党，该州如今已成为中期选战的战场。总统将在选举前两次返回爱荷华州以动员支持者。
“I think he has delusions of grandeur,” said Roethler, who plans to support Democrats next month in a state that has become a midterm battleground after Trump carried it by 13 percentage points two years ago. The president will return to Iowa twice before the election to rally supporters.
民主党在像奇卡索县这样的农村社区赢得选举面临艰巨挑战，该县曾是民主党的传统堡垒，但在特朗普时代因更广泛的政治重新排列而急剧向右转，波及农业中西部的大部分地区。但通过仅仅吸引像罗思勒这样的选民来缩小失利幅度，民主党希望重新具备竞争力。爱荷华州参议院候选人、民主党人乔什·图雷克表示，他的党“对这个数学问题看错了。”“你必须走进这些农村县，缩小差距，”他在接受采访时说。
Democrats face a steep challenge in winning rural communities like this one in Chickasaw County, a onetime party stronghold that swung sharply to the right in the Trump era as a broader realignment swept through much of the agricultural Midwest. But by simply narrowing their losses with appeals to voters such as Roethler, Democrats hope to become newly competitive from Iowa Kansas Nebraska Ohio Josh Turek the Democrat running for a U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, said his party has “looked at this math problem incorrectly.”“You’ve got to go out there in these rural counties and trim the margins,” he said in an interview.
在通常不是共和党势力强大的州里，竞争激烈的选举让共和党知道他们正处于防守状态。特朗普最近在内布拉斯加州举行了集会，以提振美国参议员皮特·里克茨的支持率，并将对另一位美国参议员做同样事情。
Competitive races in states that usually aren’t Republicans know they are on defense in these states. Trump recently held a rally in Nebraska to boost U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and will do the same for U.S. Sen.
罗杰·马歇尔周一在堪萨斯州。共和党人正在向两个州注入资金，以备11月3日的选举。
Roger Marshall in Kansas on Monday. Republicans are pumping money into both states before the Nov. 3 election.
很少有地方能像爱荷华州那样代表该党面临的挑战，在那里，民主党人正在为州长、美国参议员以及若干美国众议院席位发起热情的竞选活动，其中包括第2国会选区，该选区覆盖了该州东北部的大部分地区，直到最近仍被视为共和党的铁票仓。
Few places represent the party’s challenge like Iowa, where Democrats are mounting spirited campaigns for governor, U.S. Senate and several U.S. House seats, including the 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses much of the state’s northeast and was considered reliably Republican until recently.
随着关税扰乱农业经济以及伊朗战争推高油价——爱荷华州的柴油价格已超过每加仑6美元——美国众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（共和党人，路易斯安那州）穿越该选区，呼吁选民维持他脆弱的多数优势。“这个州对我们来说非常重要，”约翰逊在雪松瀑布城说道。
With tariffs disrupting the agricultural economy and the war in Iran driving up gas prices — diesel surpasses $6 a gallon in Iowa — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La., swung through the district to ask voters to keep his fragile majority in place. “This state is so important to us,” Johnson said in Cedar Falls.
共和党的削弱在北约45英里处的新汉普顿显而易见。在罗思勒不远处，69岁的比尔·斯通赛弗在2016年投票支持特朗普，期望他能将商业头脑应用于治理。如今，斯通赛弗计划在其一生中首次投票支持选票上的每一位民主党候选人。“我只知道这是一团糟，而且需要多年才能修复，”他说。
The Republican erosion was evident about 45 miles north in New Hampton. A few houses away from Roethler, 69-year-old Bill Stonecypher voted for Trump in 2016, expecting him to apply his business acumen to governing. Now Stonecypher plans to vote for every Democrat on the ballot for the first time in his life. “I just know it’s a mess and it’s going to take years to fix,” he said.
另一位邻居，70岁的德布·索恩在2024年支持特朗普，但表示他没有兑现降低成本的承诺。
Another neighbor, 70-year-old Deb Thorne backed Trump in 2024 but said he hasn’t followed through on his pledge to lower costs.
“他骗了我们，”她说。“我在所有事情上都更倾向于民主党。”州长候选人如何超越党的基础爱荷华州的民主党人因州审计师罗布·桑德而士气高涨，他的州长竞选活动建立在对独立人士和失望共和党人的明确 overtures 之上。
“He lied to us,” she said. “I’m looking more at Democrats for everything.”How a candidate for governor is reaching beyond the party base Democrats in Iowa are buoyed by Rob Sand the state auditor whose campaign for governor is built on explicit overtures to independents and disaffected Republicans.
最近，几十人聚集在明尼苏达州边境附近的圣安斯加镇一个一平方英里的美国军团大厅里。桑德开场时描述了一个以打猎、钓鱼和教会为中心的“相当标准的成长经历”。
A few dozen people gathered recently in an American Legion hall in St. Ansgar, a square-mile town near the Minnesota border. Sand opened by describing a “pretty standard upbringing” centered on hunting, fishing and church.
他与因文化问题而陷入僵局的全国党争论保持距离。当他谈到反对跨性别女孩参加女子运动队时，房间里几个人点头表示赞同。
He distanced himself from the fighting over cultural issues that has bogged down the national party. A few heads in the room nodded as he spoke of opposition to transgender girls playing on female sports teams.
“所有这些东西在我们上高中的时候，根本没有人在讨论，”桑德说，他的对手是政治新人、共和党人扎克·拉恩。
“All that stuff was stuff that nobody was talking about back when we were in high school,” said Sand, whose opponent is Republican Zach Lahn a political newcomer.
桑德说，他之所以成为民主党人，唯一的原因是他必须选择一个政党来参加初选，而且他认为民主党在清洁水源和保护公共土地等议题上更有力。
The only reason he was a Democrat at all, Sand said, was that he had to pick a party to participate in primaries and he thought Democrats were stronger on issues like clean water and protecting public land.
米切尔县监督委员会共和党成员吉姆·韦里参加了此次活动，并表示桑德“获胜的机会相当大”。
Jim Wherry, a Republican member of the Mitchell County Board of Supervisors, attended the event and said Sand “has a pretty good chance.”
“我的主要关注点是，有时事情会过度聚焦在城市地区，”他说。“所以我很欣赏他实际上在纳入爱荷华州的农村地区。”桑德曾两次以州审计长身份赢得全州选举，他说他也得到了曾支持特朗普的选民的支持。
“My big thing is sometimes things get focused on urban areas,” he said. “So I like that he’s actually incorporating rural Iowa.”Sand, who has won two statewide elections as state auditor, said he’s received support from voters who also backed Trump.
“同时支持我们两个人的选民所共有的一点是，我们都是说我们所想的，并且对政治体制感到不满，”他说。
“One of the things that people who vote for both of us find in common is that we say what we think and we’re dissatisfied with the political system,” he said.
民主党正在加大对农村的投入。民主党正在提升其农村投资。民主党州长协会已向爱荷华州、佐治亚州、俄亥俄州和威斯康星州的竞选活动各拨款1000万美元，并在选举前可能还会在其他地区进行支出。
Democrats are boosting rural investments Democrats are stepping up their rural investments. The Democratic Governors Association has directed $10 million each to campaigns in Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Wisconsin and could spend elsewhere ahead of the election.
“我看到的是一张不断扩大、扩大、再扩大的地图，这对民主党来说是件好事，”肯塔基州州长安迪·贝谢尔说，他同时也是民主党州长协会的负责人，并在一次采访中如此表示。
“What I see is a map that has grown and grown and grown and that is good for Democrats,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who leads the DGA, said in an interview.
专注于夺回众议院的民主党国会竞选委员会，在本选举周期首次启动了农村参与计划，包括民意调查、付费媒体和人员配置。该组织仅在爱荷华州第2国会选区就在电视广告上进行了六位数的投资。
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is focused on retaking the House, launched a rural engagement program for the first time this election cycle, including polling, paid media and staff. The group has made a six-figure investment in television advertising in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District alone.
民主党候选人林赛·詹姆斯是一位牧师，她经常谈论自己的信仰以与选民建立联系，她可能会因此获得提振，因为该选区包括桑德的家乡迪科拉。她正在与共和党人乔·米切尔竞争，后者曾是州议员，并在特朗普政府任职。
Democratic candidate Lindsay James, a chaplain who often speaks of her faith to connect with voters, could see a boost because the district includes Sand’s hometown of Decorah. She’s competing against Republican Joe Mitchell, a former state representative who worked in the Trump administration.
在一次采访中，詹姆斯表示她“致力于无处不在出现”。当被问及为何民主党在之前的选举中失去了农村选民时，她直言不讳地给出了评估。“华盛顿的民主党人把中西部抛在了后面，”她说。经济问题可能为民主党带来机遇爱荷华州的经济逆风可能为詹姆斯和其他民主党人带来机遇。
In an interview, James said she was “committed to showing up everywhere.”When asked why Democrats lost rural voters in previous elections, she was blunt in her assessment. “Democrats in Washington have left the Midwest behind,” she said. Economic concerns could give Democrats an opening The economic headwinds in Iowa could give James and other Democrats an opening.
美联社与KFF合作在8月进行的一项民意调查发现，美国农村选民对特朗普在经济方面感到沮丧。大约一半的农村选民认为，全国经济状况“比特朗普于2025年1月重返白宫时更糟”。调查还发现，大约十分之六的农村选民对特朗普处理伊朗战争的方式表示不赞同。
A poll conducted in August by The Associated Press, in partnership with KFF, found that rural voters in the United States are economically frustrated with Trump. About half of rural voters believe the national economy is “worse off” than when Trump returned to office in January 2025. The survey found about 6 in 10 rural voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war with Iran.
然而，该调查也发现，农村选民在11月大规模支持民主党的可能性不大。
Still, the survey found that rural voters were unlikely to support Democrats on a large scale in November.
来自爱荷华州富兰克林县的64岁农民马克·德弗里斯表示，他不同意特朗普所做的一切事情，并承认总统的关税已经损害了他的生意。但他说，他将继续支持特朗普和共和党人。“他正在做需要完成的事情，”德弗里斯谈到特朗普时说。
Mark DeVries, a 64-year-old farmer in Franklin County, Iowa, said he does not agree with everything Trump does and acknowledged the president’s tariffs have hurt his business. But he said he was sticking with Trump and Republicans. “He’s doing stuff that needs to get done,” DeVries said of Trump.
在与米切尔一起竞选时，约翰逊利用了对特朗普的忠诚来警告民主党重新掌控国会的后果。他说，特朗普被弹劾“将是首先发生的事情。”但希望进入国会的民主党人试图避免卷入这场斗争。
Campaigning with Mitchell, Johnson drew on that loyalty to Trump to warn of the consequences of Democrats regaining control of Congress. A Trump impeachment, he said, “is the first thing that would happen.”But the Democrats hoping to go to Congress avoided being drawn into that fight.
图雷克表示他“对弹劾毫无兴趣”，并且民主党“需要向前看，而不是回头看。”
Turek said he had “no interest” in impeachment and that Democrats “need to look forward, not back.”
詹姆斯一直将反腐败作为竞选主题，她说她“对政治戏剧不感兴趣。”
James, who has made fighting corruption a campaign theme, said she’s “not interested in political theater.”
“我当然关注问责制，”她说。“但我专注于那些能够立即为家庭提供救济的政策。”
“I’m certainly interested in accountability,” she said. “But I’m singularly focused on policies that are going to provide, immediately, relief for families.”