Election season threats are growing more violent | The Excerpt

On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Threats against election workers and other officials have moved from messages to shootings and a bombing. State officials say a cyberattack targeting Georgia's absentee ballot website was thwarted. USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page looks at the gender gap in this year's election and what new USA TODAY/Suffolk University polling tells us. The White House issues a new student debt relief plan. USA TODAY Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn discusses how campaigns are courting caregivers ahead of November. The World Series begins in Los Angeles.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Friday, October 25th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest surrounding threats against election workers and other officials, plus how a gender gap is defining this election, a look at new polling and how the campaigns are courting caregivers in the final stretch before November 5th.

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Threats against election workers and other public officials have moved beyond calls and texts to shootings and a bombing. Threats that resulted in charges this week include a Philadelphia man vowing to skin and kill a state party official for recruiting poll watchers and an Alabama man threatening to execute election officials in Arizona. Elsewhere, an Arizona man was charged with shootings at a Democratic Party campaign office. A California man was charged with bombing a courthouse. And in a separate incident, a suspect is in custody for allegedly burning 20 electoral ballots that were inside a mailbox in Phoenix.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said an announcing action in four cases this week, "As we approach election day, the Justice Department's warning remains clear. Anyone who illegally threatens an election worker, official, or volunteer will face the consequences. For a democracy to function, Americans who serve the public must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives." You can read more about some of the recent incidents with a link in today's show notes.

The Office of Georgia's Secretary of State repelled a cyber attack earlier this month that appeared to be an attempt to shut down the website voters use to request absentee ballots ahead of the election. The threat was discovered after the agency noticed hundreds of thousands of attempts to access the site on October 14th, one day before early voting began in Georgia, the Secretary of State's office confirmed with USA TODAY. While cyber security experts were able to stop the attack, the Secretary of State's office said it still does not know for certain who was behind it. Gabriel Sterling, Chief Operating Officer for Georgia's Secretary of State's Office told CNN the threat may have originated from a foreign country. Sterling also told CNN that the attempted attack did not disrupt voters' ability to request ballots.

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The gender gap in this election is getting wider and deeper. I caught up with USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page for a look at some recent USA TODAY Suffolk University poll findings. Hello, Susan.

Susan Page:

Hi. What are we going to talk about when this election is over?

Taylor Wilson:

Busy time of year, I appreciate you hopping back on. So more interesting polling findings here. How is gender reflected Susan in this polling in terms of how men and women are supporting either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?

Susan Page:

We've been talking about a gender gap in presidential politics since 1980, but the one this year is the biggest yet if these numbers hold up. In our national poll that just came out this week, men are supporting Trump 53% to 37%, women are supporting Harris by almost exactly the same numbers 53% to 36%. That's the biggest ever, and it's one that really is defining this election.

Taylor Wilson:

Wow. And really what factors might explain this divide, Susan?

Susan Page:

We've seen from the start that Donald Trump has more appeal among men than women, that's been true since his first run for the presidency in 2016. Harris is the first woman of color to be nominated for president by a major party, that may be appealing to some women. And we've seen that this gender gap has been intensified by the Supreme Court decision in 2022 overturning Roe, V. Wade. That has really made abortion rights a big issue in the elections that have followed.

Taylor Wilson:

And how is this gender gap reflected among Latinos?

Susan Page:

We went back and looked at two statewide polls we did of Latino voters in swing states in Arizona and Nevada. These are samples of 500 likely voters in each state, so it's a big enough sample of Latino voters to look at it by gender. And we found an enormous gender gap, this is something we have not seen before among Hispanics. We found that Hispanic women, for instance, in Arizona support Harris by 40 percentage points, Hispanic men in Arizona are backing Trump by two points. And there was a similar disparity in Nevada. This is a new phenomenon in American politics and it's one we're going to be watching closely in future elections.

Taylor Wilson:

And Susan, among black voters, how are we seeing a gender split play out there?

Susan Page:

We've done two statewide polls in swing states of black voters in Michigan and in Pennsylvania, and we went back and looked at those findings by gender. And what we found is that black voters, men and women support the Democratic candidate, support Harris. That's traditional. But there has been erosion in democratic support among black men. In Michigan, for instance, 13% of black men are supporting Trump. That means that Harris has a big advantage, 53 points, but it's nothing like the advantage she has among black women in Michigan of 72 points.

Taylor Wilson:

And Susan, in terms of the issues, what issues really matter the most according to this polling and how did these break down along gender lines?

Susan Page:

The first issue, the issue that is at the top of the list for men and women, it won't surprise you, it's the economy and inflation. But after that, there is a lot of disagreement. Number two for women voters, a strong second, abortion access and women's rights. Not of concern to men, only 2% of men volunteered that as their top issue. Instead, their number two issue is immigration, number three issue is democracy.

Taylor Wilson:

And finally, Susan, how do voters feel the parties really view these issues that matter to men and women?

Susan Page:

In our national poll, we ask if people thought that the Democratic Party cared more about issues of concern to women than men, and the reverse for the Republican Party, did the GOP care more about issues of concern to men than of women? To both questions, there was kind of an even split on whether the parties did or did not favor one gender over the other. There was one group though that definitely felt that Republicans cared more about the issues of concern to men. That was 75% of the voters who are supporting Harris.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, a week and a half to go Susan. Susan Page is USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief. Thanks as always.

Susan Page:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

The White House is pushing ahead with another broad student debt relief plan in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency. The Federal Education Department is releasing the proposal today, which the Biden administration says could provide student loan forgiveness to approximately eight million Americans. The proposed rules likely represent the last significant student debt related action that the Biden administration will take before the next U.S. president is decided next month. It would authorize the U.S. Education Secretary to automatically cancel the debts of potentially millions of student loan borrowers whom the government expects will likely default on their loans in the next two years, provided they meet certain criteria based on household income assets and preexisting debt.

Another component of the plan would create a new application through which borrowers experiencing forms of hardship could apply for forgiveness. Among other categories, those challenges would include chronic illness, medical debt, costs related to child care, and the impacts of natural disasters. You can read more with a link in today's Show Notes.

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Looking to shore up support in the final weeks before the election, the campaigns are pledging to help families with soaring costs of in-home Care. I spoke with USA TODAY Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn about the toll on caregivers and how the issues they care about are playing out this election cycle. Hello, Jessica.

Jessica Guynn:

Hi Taylor, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for coming back on, Jessica. So let's just start with this. Would you tell us about Dion McCray and her story?

Jessica Guynn:

Dion had a successful career in high-tech. She owned her own home in Oakland, California until she got a phone call in 2020. Her stepfather had suddenly collapsed. She ended up selling her house and moving back into her childhood home in Orange County to care for him until he died 11 months later. During that time, she realized her mom's memory issues were more serious than she had realized, so she stayed and she has become like one in five Americans who are family caregivers. And that's what they do. They are part of a largely invisible, unpaid workforce that toils quietly behind the scenes caring for aging parents or ailing family members with very little government support.

Dion told me that she loves being able to care for her mom, but she's also paid a pretty high price for that. She's drained much of her savings. She left a career behind her health has suffered. So for her, it was a hopeful sign earlier this month when Vice President Kamala Harris went on The View and pledged to expand Medicare to cover in-home care. And for the record, former president Donald Trump's campaign said he also supports doing this. And Dion said maybe for the first time she really felt seen.

Taylor Wilson:

Wow. So as you say, this is just one example of a lot of stories like these. How much unpaid care really do caregivers like Dion provide nationally?

Jessica Guynn:

Well, the estimate is that family caregivers provide $600 billion in unpaid care a year. Megan Riley, who's AARP's Vice President of Government Affairs for Health & Family, put it this way. "These families are not just holding up their own families, they're holding up the whole long-term care system." Medicare only covers home health aides and other assistants under pretty limited circumstances, and so many families don't earn enough to afford private care but earn too much to qualify for government aid.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So really what are the consequences of I guess this juggling act that caregivers are having to pull off?

Jessica Guynn:

Well, research shows families end up providing about half the care hours themselves, and that constant juggle means they're often absent from work, they lose out on pay and benefits, they miss out on promotions. Some have to stop working altogether for a time. And the people we spoke with also reported that they experienced much higher levels of stress. Oftentimes they're juggling kids and ailing parents, and they also say their own health has suffered as they've tried to navigate complex rules and Byzantine bureaucracies. And one of the challenges here is that this can go on for years. Almost one-third of caregivers have been caring for family members for five years or longer.

Taylor Wilson:

So Jessica, you mentioned Trump and Harris. It's election season, we're just days away really from election day at this point. So how are Trump and Harris going after these voters and really what are the issues that voters want them to tackle?

Jessica Guynn:

Well, Trump has pledged to protect and strengthen Medicare and to prioritize care at home for the elderly. And he said he would cut red tape and support family caregivers through tax credits. Harris, as I said before, has outlined a proposal to expand Medicare to cover in-home care. The issue is personal for Harris. She took care of her mother when she was dying of cancer. But public health experts say that despite these campaign promises, there's very little political consensus on how to support aging Americans. And all of the previous efforts to expand in-home coverage have failed.

The sense I got from talking with Dion and with other family caregivers is that they need politicians and policymakers to step up here. They say this system is broken and Democrats and Republicans owe it to Americans to come together to fix it. I asked Dion at one point what she would say to Vice President Harris and former President Trump if she had the opportunity, and this is what she told me. "People say you're doing such a good job, you are such a great daughter. But at night when I look at her to make sure my mom is still alive, where are you?"

Taylor Wilson:

Those are powerful words. Jessica Guynn is a Senior Reporter with USA TODAY. I thank you for the story, Jessica, and coming on and discussing it.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me Taylor.

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Taylor Wilson:

The World Series begins tonight with Game One in Los Angeles as the Dodgers host the Yankees. The Dodgers took down the Mets last round to best the National League, while the Yankees had to get through the Guardians. The Dodgers are searching for their first championship since the COVID-shortened 2020 season and their first after a more normal baseball season since 1988. The Yankees, despite generations of dominance once upon a time, haven't won a championship since 2009, and this is their first appearance in the World Series since then.

As for the matchup, local fans outside the big markets might not be thrilled, but it's something MLB and TV executives have dreamed of for decades. Not only will the fall classic feature the two biggest markets in the sport, the series has seen ratings drop in recent years, essentially since the pandemic-shortened season. And many are hoping eyeballs will return this year in a big way. The first pitch of Game One is set for tonight in LA just after 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 5:00 Pacific. You can follow along with USA TODAY Sports.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Greene and Kaylee Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election season threats are growing more violent | The Excerpt