Becky Marshall is worried about the results of Tuesday’s presidential election, regardless of who wins.
If Donald Trump wins, the 63-year-old psychiatric nurse practitioner fears that the former president could withdraw the U.S. from NATO and slash federal budgets that will hurt the average American.
But if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, the Democrat is afraid that Trump’s supporters might incite violence.
“I don’t think it’ll be over when it’s over, even if Harris wins,” Marshall said outside the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Tuesday after casting ballots for Harris and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden to represent the 2nd Congressional District.
Democrats and Republicans both feel that a lot is at stake in this year’s presidential election. Harris supporters, still reeling from the overturning of federal abortion rights, fear the loss of further rights if Trump is elected to a second term. They worry there will be more violence like that seen at the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And they’re concerned that warnings from those closest to Trump that he would take a “dictator approach” if he were to regain the Oval Office could come to fruition.
Trump voters, meanwhile, expressed fear that a Harris presidency could be devastating for middle class Americans feeling the strain of inflation. They believe that only Trump will protect Americans by closing the southern border and deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. And they worry that if Harris wins, it will only further divide Americans.
The result is that voters in Maine and across the country have more fear about the outcome of this election than ever before. And while the polls have closed, that tension could stretch into days as the nation awaits the results of what is likely to be a close race.
Trump had 105 electoral votes compared with Harris’ 31 as of 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ. A candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency.
For Jenny and Jake Spencer of Orono, the possibility of another Trump presidency stokes fears about the futures of their five children, some of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ community. They also have daughters and fear the erosion of further reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 after Trump appointed three justices during his term in office.
“As a mother, my greatest fear is violence against my children,” Jenny Spencer said outside the Cross Insurance Center.
It was a sentiment echoed by Beverly Chapman of Houlton. The artisan and baker “voted Blue up and down the ticket” and cited her children and grandchildren as a major reason.
“As a mother, I have two daughters I need to protect,” Chapman said. “One lives in Texas with my granddaughter where their reproductive rights have been stripped away. It wasn’t a hard decision, it’s way more important to me than high grocery or gas prices.”
Robert Lamberson Jr. fears another Trump presidency would bring cuts to social security, taxes will rise and the economy will suffer, the 71-year-old Bangor resident said.
Multiple voters also cited Trump’s role on Jan. 6 and a recent warning from his former Chief of Staff John Kelly that Trump meets the “definition of a fascist” as disqualifying factors for him to regain the presidency.
“My father and grandfather both fought against fascism. I’m certainly not going to vote for it,” Ed Beem, a 75-year-old retired freelance writer in Brunswick, said. “And Donald Trump, I hate the guy. I don’t think this country can begin to heal until he’s out of the picture. … In my 75 years, he’s the worst thing that has ever happened to this country, and that includes Vietnam.”
For Republicans, the economy was the biggest source of anxiety as they cast their votes on Tuesday.
“The economy was good when [Trump] was president,” said Jay Doucette of Bangor, while Greg Carroll of Milford said that his “wallet is getting thin.”
Trump supporters say that the economy was better under the former president, and that voting for Harris would create more of the same that they’ve experienced under President Joe Biden. The U.S. inflation rate peaked at 9.1 percent in April 2022 as the world continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation fell to 2.4 percent in September 2024.
“It’s about time we get a businessman back in office,” Cunningham said. “That’s what this country needs. We’re spending too much money. We’re in debt. He knows how to handle his money.”
Doucette, a 57-year-old machinist, says the country is more divided now than ever before, and that Democrats and the media are the cause.
“We have two sides that aren’t meeting halfway. I think we’re headed to a civil war, as much as I hate to admit it.”
The sense of dread is not universal. At least one Trump voter said he isn’t concerned about the outcome at all, whether the candidate he supports wins or not.
“We won’t have another Jan. 6,” said 55-year-old Chris Swift of Bangor, who worked on Trump’s campaign in 2020.
“I don’t see all the animosity that we saw before. Things seem better now.”
BDN writers Billy Kobin, Kathleen O’Brien, Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli and Jules Walkup contributed to this report.
