迈克尔·富塞拉（Michael Fusella，21岁）表示，他感觉美国梦正在离自己远去，并希望自己支持的政党能采取更多行动应对不断上涨的物价。
Michael Fusella, 21, said he feels the American Dream slipping away and wants the party he supports to do more to address rising costs.
在中期选举前夕，《华盛顿邮报》推出系列报道，展示全美各地将负担能力视为头号关切的选民风貌。这是该系列的第三篇。
Ahead of the midterm elections, The Washington Post is offering snapshots of voters across the country who cite affordability as a top concern. Here is the third in the series.
富塞拉从高中起就对政治充满热情，经常与同学就移民和枪支权利等议题展开辩论。2024年，他终于年满投票资格，投出了人生第一张选票，投给了特朗普。
Passionate about politics since high school, Fusella regularly debated fellow students about immigration and gun rights. He was finally old enough to cast his first ballot for Trump in 2024.
“如果可以，我会在2020年和2016年都投给他，”富塞拉说。
“I would have voted for him in 2020 and 2016 if I could,” Fusella said.
但随着与伊朗的战争拖延，生活成本持续攀升，这位21岁的注册共和党选民表示，他感到被一位承诺结束海外冲突、降低物价的总统背叛了。“我们从未被承诺过这些，”富塞拉说。
But as the war with Iran drags on and the cost of living continues to climb, the 21-year-old registered Republican said he feels betrayed by a president who said he’d end overseas conflicts and lower prices. “We were never promised this,” Fusella said.
随着买房等人生里程碑——比如在他20多岁晚期前买得起房——感觉越来越遥不可及，负担能力问题始终萦绕在富塞拉心头。根据《经济学人》/YouGov最近的一项民调，65%的美国成年人表示不认可特朗普对经济的处理，其中约三分之一的共和党人也持此观点，富塞拉便在其中。
Affordability is top of mind for Fusella as milestones like being able to buy a home by the time he is in his late 20s feel increasingly out of reach. He’s among the 65 percent of American adults who say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, including about 1 in 3 Republicans, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll.
尽管如此，富塞拉表示，他在佛罗里达州的大多数选战中仍将支持共和党候选人。不过，他计划在州长选举中弃权，理由是不喜欢共和党候选人拜伦·唐纳兹（Byron Donalds）和民主党候选人大卫·乔利（David Jolly）。富塞拉认为唐纳兹的竞选活动无视年轻选民，但他“绝对不会投给民主党人”。他居住在佛罗里达州第15国会选区，正在邻近的第14选区为迈克·贝尔特兰（Mike Beltran）做志愿者；贝尔特兰是前共和党州众议员，正试图击败现任联邦众议员凯西·卡斯托（Kathy Castor，民主党-佛罗里达州）。
Still, Fusella said he’ll back Republican candidates in most Florida races. He plans to skip the governor’s race, however, citing his dislike of Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly. Fusella said he feels Donalds’s campaign has been dismissive of younger voters, but he is “definitely not voting Democrat either.”He lives in Florida’s 15th Congressional District and is volunteering in the neighboring 14th District for Mike Beltran, a former Republican state representative running to unseat Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Florida).
“我确实认为，无论我对该党有多少不满，佛罗里达州拥有保守派领导层依然很重要，”他说。“但我认为共和党需要在负担能力问题上拿出更多作为。”
“I do think having conservative leadership here in Florida, regardless of some of my gripes with the party, is still important,” he said. “But I think Republicans need to step it up on this affordability issue.”
富塞拉今年5月在坦帕的南佛罗里达大学获得金融学学士学位。奖学金和家庭大学储蓄计划支付了他的学费，使他没有背负学生贷款。但他搬回坦帕与父母同住，以避免支付房租，他说。他计划在可预见的未来继续住在那里，并开玩笑说父母“最好习惯我的存在”。
Fusella graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa in May with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Scholarships and a family college savings plan covered his degree, leaving him without student loans. But he moved back in with his parents in Tampa to avoid paying rent, he said. He plans to stay for the foreseeable future and has joked that his parents “better get used to me.”
“全国各地同龄人都在这样做，”他说。“他们只是选择继续和父母住在一起，因为这是他们不得不做的事。”他在希尔斯伯勒县委员会竞选团队全职工作，时薪18.50美元，他说这大约相当于每月3000美元。富塞拉原本不打算从事政治工作，但他说大学毕业后很难找到工作。不过现在做这行了，他说他喜欢在竞选团队工作。
“You’re seeing that all over the country with people our age,” he said. “They’re just choosing to stay with their parents because it’s what they have to do.”He makes $18.50 an hour working full-time for a Hillsborough County Commission campaign, which he said comes out to roughly $3,000 a month. Fusella didn’t plan to work in politics, but said he had a hard time finding a job right out of college. Now that he’s doing it though, he said he enjoys working on campaigns.
直到10月初，他还在一家酒店做代客泊车。但随着酒店将停车费提高到每晚近50美元，顾客给的小费变少了，甚至完全不给小费，他说。
Until early October, he also worked as a hotel valet. But as the hotel raised its parking rates to almost $50 a night, customers tipped less or stopped tipping altogether, he said.
“我感觉自己赚的钱越来越少，却要站八个小时，几乎一无所获，”富塞拉说。
“I felt like I just kept making less and less money, and I would just stand there for eight hours for barely anything,” Fusella said.
他的竞选工作要求他开车跑遍全县。他使用父亲的2018款雪佛兰Silverado皮卡，他说这车需要加高标号汽油。他经常每加仑支付5美元以上，加满一箱油要花100美元以上。
His campaign job requires him to drive across the county. He uses his dad’s 2018 Chevrolet Silverado, which he said requires premium gasoline. He often pays more than $5 a gallon, spending upward of $100 to fill the tank.
“我不算穷或身无分文，但我正因油价太糟糕而变得穷困潦倒，”富塞拉说。
“I’m not poor or broke or anything, but I’m going broke because of how bad the gas prices are,” Fusella said.
除了汽油，他的开支还包括食物、汽车维修和法学院申请费。他最近一直在削减开支，包括减少和朋友去酒吧和夜店的次数。
Beyond gas, his expenses include food, car repairs and law school application fees. He has been cutting back lately, including going out to bars and clubs with friends less often.
他们确实外出时，会尝试“预热”（先喝酒）或围绕优惠时段安排行程。即使有5美元的饮品优惠，最近一次去唱卡拉OK的花费还是超过了100美元，只买了两片披萨、几杯杰克丹尼加可乐和停车费。他说，和朋友出去玩一晚通常要花差不多这么多钱。“钱还没来得及反应过来就没了，”富塞拉说。
When they do go out, they try to “pregame” (drink beforehand) or plan around specials. Even with a $5 drink deal, a recent karaoke outing cost him more than $100 for two slices of pizza, a few Jack and Cokes and parking. He said he often spends about that much on a night out with friends. “The money just disappears before you even know it,” Fusella said.
富塞拉表示，他希望共和党能拿出切实可行的提案让生活更负担得起，而不是光警告民主党候选人会“把社会主义带到佛罗里达”。
Fusella said he wants Republicans to offer concrete proposals to make life more affordable instead of warning about Democratic candidates “bringing socialism to Florida.”
“别误会，我跟别人一样不喜欢社会主义，”富塞拉说，“但你不能把整个政治纲领都建立在单纯击败社会主义上。”他还希望年长一代能理解，为什么年轻人可能比父辈、祖辈付出更多努力，才能达到同样的里程碑。
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like socialism as much as the next person,” Fusella said, “but you can’t predicate your entire political platform on just defeating socialism.”He also wants older generations to understand why young people may have to work much harder than their parents and grandparents to reach the same milestones.
“我尽量不抱受害者心态，但不幸的现实是，我们必须面对我们所处的现实，”他说。“所有东西都更贵了。一切都比过去难得多。”
“I try not to take that victim mentality, but the unfortunate truth is we have to face the reality that we live in,” he said. “Everything costs more. Everything is a lot harder than it used to be.”
即便如此，他仍试图对终有一天能实现从小听到大的“美国梦”保持乐观。他想拥有房产，过上“在漂亮郊区社区拥有白色栅栏围墙的房子、结婚、养育家庭”的生活。不过最近，他说，这种想法感觉更像是一种幻想。
Even so, he tries to remain optimistic about one day achieving the American Dream he grew up hearing about. He wants to own property and have “the white picket fence in a nice suburban neighborhood, get married, raise a family.”Lately, though, he said, that idea feels more like a fantasy.
“也许等我真正实现那天，会觉得更有价值，”他说，“希望不是等到我65岁的时候。”
“Maybe it’ll be just that much more worth it when I actually do achieve it one day,” he said, “and hopefully not when I’m 65.”