Pulse of America: Road Trip to the Convention With Martha Raddatz
ABC News' Martha Raddatz is talking to voters from Dallas to Cleveland.
— -- As the nation grapples with issues around race and law enforcement, politics have inevitably entered the picture. Americans are in this election looking to see who can lead the country and bridge any divide during a difficult moment in history.
After shootings last week in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, communities grieved for the loss of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile respectively, each of whom was killed at hands of the police. In Dallas, a city mourned five law enforcement officers killed in a shooting rampage at what started as a peaceful demonstration against police violence.
To get a better read on the pulse of America, ABC News' Martha Raddatz departed from Dallas for a weeklong road trip. The final destination: Cleveland, where the Republican National Convention will kick off July 18.
Follow along as Martha speaks to voters from all walks of life. Click on the red points in the map below to trace her journey from Dallas to Cleveland. This page will be updated daily with stories, video and photos as Martha and her team travel hundreds of miles to find the pulse of America.
Dallas and Plano, Texas
The trip began on a very somber note as Martha reflected on her weekend in Dallas. There she met Valentine and Awujoola Okonkwo who immigrated from Nigeria and have lived in Texas for over a decade.
While the couple said they didn't feel a divide with the white community, they told Martha the next president should be able to unite the country, allowing every American to feel "comfortable."
Awujoola stressed the value of immigrant community.
"I think we [immigrants] make the country better... We’re like over in a new land, you know, we want to do something great," he said. "So we’re very innovative, thinking of creative ideas, you know, and wanting to do so many things. So we need a leader that makes everyone feel welcome."
The couple is still undecided.
Next, the team headed 20 miles north to Plano where Martha met husband and wife Brian and Erin Bent.
Erin is a Democrat who will support Hillary Clinton, though she doesn't entirely trust the candidate. Brian, a Republican, has never voted for a Democrat, but may for the first time this November.
"I don’t feel like I associate myself with the Republican Party right now. I definitely don’t associate myself with the Democratic Party. So I, I feel like I am at an impasse," he told Martha.
Brian appreciates that Donald Trump has brought new issues to the foreground of the political debate, but disagrees with many of Trump's positions, like his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants. With regards to Hillary, he said his unwillingness to support her goes beyond the "trust issue." Brian was concerned about how Clinton handled her private email server while serving as secretary of state.
"I’m gonna exercise my right to vote, absolutely," he said. "But I don’t know what I’m gonna do at this point."
Ardmore, Oklahoma
The next stop was at a scenic ranch in Ardmore belonging to Jud Little. Three hundred horses provided an idyllic backdrop, but Martha found there was real frustration among voters.
Jud voted for Ted Cruz in the Republican primary and is now leaning toward Trump, but he's not completely sold and may not cast his vote come November. While he agrees with Trump on immigration, he's worried about job loss in Oklahoma and how Trump will react on issues of foreign policy.
Jud was disillusioned with Washington politics and said he's waiting to see what happens at the convention in Cleveland before he makes up his mind.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
One hundred miles north of Ardmore, the team stopped in Oklahoma City. At the memorial to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Martha spoke to Melissa McLawhorn Houston, who survived the domestic terror attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building downtown.
Melissa expressed concern over the political rhetoric dominating this election cycle:
"Everyone talks about 'violence is never the answer.' I think another lesson that is important is that the level of rhetoric matters.... At the time in the early '90s, there was a great deal of rhetoric that was anti-government -- and those bureaucrats, those nameless faceless bureaucrats. And that’s what the Murrah Building was an attack on.... But those were people. They were people’s daughters and mothers and sons and children.... There are consequences to when that level of rhetoric results in someone taking action and not thinking about the consequences of that action and dehumanizing people and not realizing that people have worth. So now you see this level of rhetoric against the police -- those kind of nameless faceless police. Just all over again and that’s someone’s father, that’s someone’s son. That’s someone who won't be home for dinner."
At the same memorial, Martha spoke to the Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty, who had a message of hope for the city of Dallas.
"I mean you have to feel hope, and people need to realize one person does not represent everyone else," he told Martha. "And especially the movement that's going on now, and the call for change in law enforcement ... if they [the police] fail to get better, in those relationships between the minority community and police, it's not going to be for a lack of effort from police."
The chief emphasized the need for communication so that both police and the community they protect understand each other's fears.
Springfield, Missouri
Nearly 300 miles from Oklahoma City, Martha and the team followed roadside billboards to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri.
There they met Kirk Hansen, the marketing director for the caverns, who agreed to give Martha a tour of the natural cave, discovered in 1862 by an Ozarks farmer.
Halfway through the tour, discussions of cave formations and bat populations inevitably turned to politics.
Kirk told Martha he voted for Ted Cruz in the primary and hasn’t committed to Donald Trump.
“To be honest with you, I have not made up my mind,” he said. “I don’t think either candidate that’s in the prime position right now is going to destroy the nation. I don’t think either one is going to be the salvation of the nation.”
Who wouldn't want to visit a massive cavern in Missouri? #roadtriptoRNC Many voters undecided. pic.twitter.com/3JcHLsLVOW
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) July 13, 2016
One concern for Kirk is around the minimum wage -- Fantastic Caverns is a small, family-owned business which Kirk said could be impacted by proposed increases.
“We pay our folks here better than other jobs in the area, but when you start dictating minimum wage you are going to see either a cut in service or a rise in admissions,” he told Martha.
Kirk expressed frustration toward what he sees as Washington’s poor spending habits and its behaving as if there is a “bottomless pit of money."
“I just know in our business, [money] certainly got to come in before it can go out, or we do without,” he said.
While exploring the caverns, Martha also met Quantrel Brown from Kansas City, another undecided voter who was unimpressed with both candidates.
“I think the Clintons have already been president, and I just don’t want four more years of Clinton politics,” she told Martha.
Another visitor to the caverns, Berta Banuet from Colorado was also undecided. She’s waiting for the conventions to decide who she’ll vote for this fall.
“Still nobody has convinced me yet. One is too aggressive and the other is too corrupt!” she said.
Berta, a Mexican immigrant, told Martha she wasn’t particularly bothered by Trump’s rhetoric toward immigrants.
“I think I like things being done in the right way and in the legal way,” she said.
But when asked if Trump’s wall with Mexico would help the country?
“No,” she laughed.
Ferguson, Missouri
After the recent fatal shootings by police in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, Martha and the team traveled to Ferguson, Missouri, where two years ago this August an 18-year old African American, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer.
The shooting sparked weeks of protests and some violence in the city and around the country, helping to prompt a national conversation about the relationship between law enforcement and the black community.
In front of a Ferguson liquor store that had been destroyed during some of the ensuring violence, Martha met Gerald Paul and his daughter Miyah.
We're in Ferguson today on our #roadtriptoRNC pic.twitter.com/GxjmWMUJNC
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) July 14, 2016
Miyah was 16 when Michael Brown was killed and recalls being at home with her father at the time watching the news. She told Martha she thinks things have gotten better in Ferguson since. But her father isn't so sure.
“I haven’t seen no change really,” he said, telling Martha there is still a lack of trust between his neighborhood and Ferguson police.
“I’m 50 years old, and it’s been like this for so long. It’s just stuff that I learned over the years, what to do and not to do –- pulling over. Simple things, keeping still,” Gerald said. “I mean I had all kinds of experience. I had some bad ones, but I had some good ones. But I had more of the bad ones.”
Despite Gerald's memory of bad encounters with the police, he and his daughter recounted a positive experience they had with an officer just that morning when someone had tried to break into Gerald's car.
“The white policeman, he was like really nice and cool, and it made me see that we are all human, or that there are some police officers that are human,” Miyah said. “White policemen are human, they are not all bad.”
Gerald told Martha he is upset about the shootings in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis.
“I thought about my sons. I got boys. I got teenage boys,” he said.
The Dallas shooting of five police officers also distresses him.
“They [the officers] had nothing to do with it, and that hurt me because of the families,” Gerald told Martha.
The father and daughter both pair plan to vote for Hillary Clinton this November. For Miyah, it’s her first chance to vote in a presidential election.
“I feel like she’s [Hillary’s] more for the race of my people, instead of Trump,” she said. “I am kind of excited to vote for the first time.”
Springfield, Illinois
Across the border in Springfield, Illinois, a town where Hillary Clinton gave a speech July 13, Martha found several women excited to vote for Clinton.
Trudy Naylor, who owns a store with her husband downtown, is a lifelong Democrat who said Hillary is unfairly judged by many people.
“Women have to look tougher than what they are on the inside, and if she shows her softer side then everybody wants to jump on her for that,” Trudy told Martha. “I just really think that Hillary is going to do the best job for us right now.”
She added that although she wished Hilary had apologized earlier over the email server controversy, she won't "continue to hold that against her" now that the candidate has acknowledged her error.
“With Hillary at her age and what she grew up in and everything else, a lot of us like to present the image that we’re very tech savvy,” Trudy said. “And you know sometimes there a lot of things that just go right over our head. Now, should she have known? Yes.”
Mary Maclaren, another Hillary supporter, said she’s also moved past the email problem.
“I think this whole thing about the emails is, as Bernie Sanders said, 'who cares about your darn emails?'” she said.
Mary said FBI Director James Comey’s remarks last week that Clinton was “extremely careless” with her emails and could have compromised national security was not important to her.
“I doesn’t bother me because I know how easy it is when you’re a busy person and a key senior leader to be swayed by the helpful people around you who may take shortcuts,” she told Martha. “And that’s how I see it. I don’t see it as really doing anything careless.”
Mary added that she thought Donald Trump's campaign had brought attention to questions around race.
“I think that’s one of the things that’s interesting about Donald Trump’s candidacy," Mary said. "He brought out a lot of things that white voters, particularly men, have been feeling, like they haven’t been loved.”
Like Mary, many Hillary supporters Martha spoke to seemed untroubled by the email scandal.
Hillary supporter Michael Walton said, “It’s not bad to have a change and for a woman president ... I think it’s about time.”
Not everyone in Springfield is for Clinton. Michelle Casby said she supports Donald Trump and that nothing could change her mind.
“I like his views, his attitude. I think he’s going to turn the country back around,” Michelle said. “He’s going to make it better for sure, get rid of all the illegal immigrant stuff. He’s going to put our country back to where we used to be.”
Oakland, Illinois
Nearly 100 miles east of Springfield, Martha visited Olde Barn Sporting Clays, a shooting range in Oakland, Illinois.
There, she met Tom Nasses, an electrician who visits the range almost every week.
A Trump supporter, Tom said he was looking for a candidate who isn't a politician.
“For just the common person working and trying to make a living, I think I just want to see work coming, and someone that stands up for people and seems like he’s got a little fight to him,” he told Martha.
One issue that most concerns Tom is gun rights. He fears that Hillary Clinton is “pretty dead set against guns.”
“I think that she thinks that the average person would take a firearm and possibly go out and maybe murder someone or maybe shoot someone,” he said. “I mean I’ve carried a gun and shot my whole life, mostly hunting ... mostly we do it for fun.”
Tom supports background checks for gun purchases, but doesn’t see a need to ban assault weapons.
“Most of my friends own some kind of assault weapon, but they use it for target practice,” he told Martha. “I have no problem with [assault weapons].”
The day that Martha spoke to Tom, ABC News reported that Donald Trump had chosen Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate.
When asked about Pence as Trump's VP choice, Tom said he didn’t know much about the governor.
“I think [Trump’s] smart enough to pick someone that is going to help him and kind of on the same mindset of helping our country,” he said. “So if he chooses [Pence], obviously he must have a lot of confidence in him.”
Terre Haute, Indiana
Just across the border from Oakland is the city of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Terre Haute is in Virgo County, which has a claim to political fame: the county has picked the winning presidential candidate in nearly every election since 1888.
At Show-Me’s Sports Bar & Grill, patrons were split as to which candidate Virgo County would favor in 2016.
If the county doesn't vote for the winning candidate this year, it will be the first time since 1956 and only the third time since 1888.
Westfield, Indiana
A short drive north of Indianapolis, in Westfield, Indiana, Martha met up with Mayor Andy Cook at the Grand Park Sports Event Complex. Earlier in the week, the site hosted a 10,000 person-strong rally with Donald Trump, Indiana Governor Mike Pence by his side. Now Trump’s running mate, Pence will be an asset in the race according to Cook. “I think he brings in the conservative side that is needed on that ticket,” Cook told Martha. “He’s a very religious man. You know where he stands on issues. I think he brings a great deal of integrity to the overall ticket.”
Cook acknowledges that trust is an issue for a lot of voters in this election season. For him, it remains to be seen if Trump can “transition from a very hard, driving business position, to running the business of this country.” But he believes a “good business manager can do just that.”
All along the journey, Martha has encountered voter after voter who have been undecided about who they are going to vote for come November. Taking in a baseball game at Grand Park, Dwayne Back said he’s still weighing his options. “I am not really happy with either one.” For Dwayne, national security was in the forefront of his mind. “There’s just a lot going on in the world right now as far as with terrorism and things like that,” he said. “I am not sure how either of them are going to be able to deal with something like that.”
Dwayne doesn’t believe that the selection of his governor as Trump’s running mate will influence his decision. But sitting nearby, Mic Fisher thinks Pence could be the deciding factor for him. “He’s been a Republican, an old school republican,” Mic told Martha. He’s still undecided, but finding Trump “a little flamboyant”, Mic believes Pence “can balance out Trump’s ways.”
Check back for the latest on Martha's road trip to Cleveland!
