Jason, a white 45-year-old male living in Kearney, Nebraska, employed full time with Johnson Controls.
Q: What is your religion, if any?
JASON: I was raised Roman Catholic, but am not currently practicing. I have been clean / sober since March 18, 1998 and have moved toward being more spiritual rather than being involved with organized religion.
Q: What is the highest degree of school you have completed?
JASON: I have a high school diploma and have obtained 3 years of college credits.
Jason with his dog
Q: Did you vote in the presidential 2016 election? If so what was your experience like?
JASON: Yes I did. Kearney has roughly 30,000 residents so my voting experience was very easy. With a smaller community we do not have long lines. My job affords me the option to make my own schedule so I always try to vote either mid-morning or mid-afternoon.
Q: Do you remember what the results of the 2016 elections in your state were? If so what was your experience like?
JASON: Yes, I was relieved that Trump won our state. Nebraska has 93 counties and 5 Electoral College votes and a population of 1,934,000 (2020 estimate). 91 counties voted for Trump with 2 going to Clinton. All 5 Electoral College votes went to Trump. Trump received 495,691 (58.7%) votes, Clinton received 284,494 (33.7%) votes.
Q: Have you registered to vote?
JASON: Yes, I registered when I was 18. That was 27 years ago, I do not remember the process.
Q: Do you discuss politics with friends/family/classmates/co-workers/…? Why (not)? How?
JASON: I have several friends that I discuss politics with. Some of my friends align very closely with my own political views and we can have some very in-depth discussions about all issues that the United States are having. I have a few friends who do not align with my political views; we can discuss politics, but we understand there are issues we do not discuss due to our views being too far apart. When my friends and I discuss politics in person, we have a very respectful conversation and try and understand other views or solutions to problems. At times this is very hard to do as each person may have an issue that they are passionate about. I was adopted at 3 weeks old so abortion is an issue that I have a hard time discussing. Thankfully my biological mother gave me up for adoption rather than choosing an abortion.
Q: Will you vote in the upcoming election? How?
JASON: I will vote in person in the upcoming election.
Q: What is important to you when selecting a presidential candidate? Why is this important to you?
JASON: The biggest concern to me is protecting the constitution and the rights of the citizens. The second the government starts taking away our rights is the second they will start to take more. History has shown us that when a government takes the means for a population to defend themselves (guns) then it is far easier for the government to take total control. We also have freedoms that we do not want the government to take; freedom of choice, equal opportunity to succeed, and a vast network of help for people who are down on their luck.
I also want a President who will put America first. I don’t want a President to destroy our relationships with other foreign countries, but we have put others in front of America and that has created a lot of issues in our country.
Q: How do you feel about the current state of politics in the U.S?
JASON: The current state of politics is a mess. COVID and race relations have our country divided right now. The media carries a lot of fault in these two issues. Conservative and liberal media outlets have taken too much of a political stance and have used their platform to divide us and have moved away from reporting the facts. In my travels and discussions with a wide variety of people I feel that the population of the country is a lot closer in their ideals than the media lead us to believe. Most of the discussions I have had have been very good and we mostly agree that the average citizen needs to remove the MSM (mainstream media) from their life and do their own research.
Q: What do you think the local perception of the election is (in your own community)?
JASON: Nebraska is very conservative as a whole. The metro area of Lincoln and Omaha is more liberal. In my specific area we are conservative, but also progressive. The perception I am encountering is that most people, regardless Democrat or Republican, are sick of the media interference in the elections. I am finding a lot of the locals are starting to do their own research and avoiding major media outlets.
Q: What campaign issue(s) is do you feel strongly about? Why? How do you hope the election will influence it?
JASON: The 2nd amendment (gun ownership) is my top priority this election cycle. The Democrats in this election cycle have already stated that they want to abolish the 2nd amendment. What concerns me about abolishing an amendment of our constitution is once they take away one it will be easier for them to start taking others.
My other priority is to avoid high taxes and socialism. We have seen what socialism has done to so many other countries over the course of history that I do not want to see my country and our citizens end up in bread lines. The Democrats like to point to Scandanavian countries as the model we can emulate in our country yet our cultural diversity and large population coupled with the massive amount of freedoms we have will never work with any form of socialism.
Q: Are there any campaign issues or topics that are especially important in your state or community or any other decisions that will be on the ballot in your state?
JASON: I think most conservatives in Nebraska are concerned with higher taxes. Legalized casino gambling is one of the main issues that is being pushed in the state.
Q: What is your opinion in regard to the current protests (you may choose which protests you want to expand on)?
JASON: I have some strong feelings about all of the protests. BLM/ANTIFA – I am all for peaceful protests, they are protected by our constitution, and I will fully support anyone who wants to hold a peaceful protest. The second those protests become violent, as we have seen throughout our country, is the second I will not support anyone involved with them. I have no love for anyone who burns down a business or home. When they burn a home or business they have created a life altering change for those owners. The BLM/ANTIFA protests are also not looking at the facts of the cases they are becoming violent over. It has been shown over the course of the past 6-8 weeks that incidents that have created the protests have been based upon false information.
Q: Which media do you use to inform yourself about the election?
JASON: Over the course of the past six months I have moved towards using the Associated Press and Rueters as my news outlets. They are the least biased outlets that I can find. I used to use CNN and Fox News to try and see both sides, but both of those outlets have become increasingly biased.
Q: How do you feel about the news coverage of the U.S. elections?
JASON: It has become a cess pool of lies. The bulk of the liberal and conservative media have moved to using very, very leading headlines to get “clicks”. Nick Sandman, the young man from Covington Catholic school, just won a large defamation suite against CNN for spreading false information about his interaction with a Native American man during a rally in Washington D.C. recently. When a media outlet loses a defamation case, that targets a minor, we can, with out reservation, say that our national media has lost their way and have become a mouthpiece for whichever party they support. It is very disheartening to me.
Q: What do you feel foreigners don’t understand about the U.S. election?
JASON: Most eastern countries do not understand how biased our media is. We have to live with it every day and the crush of information, from both sides, has become overwhelming. Another problem is when a person does not live in the USA they don’t really understand how the country works. The only info they have is what the read or is relayed to them via social media. Without the personal experience of living in the USA for an extended period they will never fully understand how it all works. This applies to all countries of our world. It seems that everyone is now a geopolitical professional and they “know” how it works in other countries. Americans don’t know how things work in Germany politically or socially.
Q: What would you recommend a German student analyze in your state?
JASON: Agriculture is a major industry in our state. Taxes hit farmers very hard every year. My friends own 3,600 acres of land and the taxes they pay on that land is roughly $70-$90 and acre. So my friends pay between $252,000-$324,000 on the land they own.