Annika Heintz, a student at Mill River Union High School, produced this story for the Underground Workshop, VTDigger’s platform for student journalism.
Editor’s Note: Vermonters cast 112,704 votes for Donald Trump and 248,412 votes for Phil Scott last November. The people behind these numbers often have little in common with each other or with traditional political labels. The interviews in this series explore just a few of the wide-ranging perspectives and attitudes among Vermonters who identify as conservative or Republican. They do not represent the views of Vermont’s Republican Party, the student journalists who conducted the interviews, or VTDigger — each of these Vermonters speaks only for themselves. Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Amelia Jones, a senior at Mill River Union High School, has lived up the street from the Wallingford Town Hall all of her life. This past Election Day, she donned a mask and climbed up its steps on her way to vote in her first presidential election.
She had voted in the primaries, but the general election was still exciting. The circular voting booths, each divided four ways, were scattered around the room. The voices of the poll workers were muffled by masks as they asked for Amelia’s name and address.
Once in the booth, Amelia looked at her ballot. Under “President,” there were 21 options to choose from, but Amelia knew who she was voting for. She picked up the pen and carefully filled in the bubble for Donald J. Trump.
Later that day, she stood in front of the town hall in the 35-degree weather holding a sign in support of Art Peterson, a local Republican candidate for the Vermont House of Representatives, who has been controversial for his stances on gay marriage and Black Lives Matter.
Amelia personally supports law enforcement, the right to bear arms with some restrictions, and is neutral on gay marriage. As community members passed Amelia on their way to vote, she noticed that while Peterson’s supporters were more enthusiastic, other voters were still respectful.
Election Day was representative of Amelia’s experiences growing up as a political minority in a liberal state. She feels that Vermont isn’t as divided as other states in the wake of the last election:
“If you want a cup of sugar from your neighbor’s house, and they’re Democratic and you are Republican, you can still go over there and ask.”
Can you tell me anything about your family’s history? Specifically, are there any experiences from your family that have defined your beliefs?
All of my family, from my mom’s dad to my recent cousin, have all served for our country, so that is a really big part of why my beliefs are what they are.
My cousin, Jace, was enlisted in 2016. It is a little scary at times to think of some of the stuff that he could be going through — when are you going to see him again? And are you going to see them again?
Do you have any people who have influenced your political point of view?
My mom has. Just seeing her working as I was growing up. I know people say, “You’re this because your parents are this,” but that had a huge impact, seeing her working hard and seeing her going about her ways and her beliefs, being a conservative.
Are there still people in your life that you are close to that you disagree with politically?
Some people in my family, actually. My grammy and her husband have different views than us. We’d always go over there and I have a [Trump] sticker on my car. They’d say, “You shouldn’t have that there,” but I’ll say, “You have your stuff too.”
They’re fine with it and in the end it all gets pushed aside. Most of the people that I hang out with have the same views as me, but every once in a while, I’m not opposed to talking to someone who is politically different or who identifies differently than me.
How have you or your family been impacted by the pandemic through school, work, or any other ways? Is there a specific moment that stands out to you?
When the pandemic first hit, I remember my last day at work with no masks and everything was normal. This couple came in from Massachusetts and asked if we’d heard about the pandemic yet. We said that we just hoped we wouldn’t shut down. That next day, my work shut down for three months.
My mom was working three jobs and now she has one job. We always eat every night, but there were some nights where we were just scraping along.
Right now, I’m trying to go to college, so financially that’s really difficult because we’re not making as much as we were. When they look at income, I don’t qualify for certain scholarships or certain grants because, at the time, we were living the dream and now it’s just kind of like everything is on hold. I feel like my whole family has grown closer but at the same time we’ve grown farther apart because we all just lost motivation and it’s hard to get along at times like these.
Can you describe your experiences in school involving politics or different beliefs?
I know, specifically this year, there have been a lot more Democratic views at school, which, personally, I take into consideration both sides. If you have different views, I’ll still be your friend. I’m not really concerned about all that, but there are some staff who have a little bit of a pushy agenda, which, with school sometimes that’s going to happen. You have to go through it.
When I was younger and when I started to be open about my views, parents were OK with it at first, but as political agendas started to progress, we had some after-school activities and their parents were like “She’s being ignorant in her beliefs.” Then we just started to drift apart and that was the end of friendships.
Outside of school, how public are you about your politics? Do you frequently post on social media or have you ever attended a rally for a politician that you support?
I’m pretty active about that. I do post on social media because I like to speak my opinion and I feel like that is a safer way for me because I can be shy with things like that. I do have some merch that I will wear when I go out every once in a while. I’ve never been to a rally, but I think it would be really fun.
On social media, have you ever received any pushback from friends or family from anything you’ve put out?
Yes, I’ve had actually quite a few people. There was a lash on Facebook a while ago. Some people were trying to attack my mom and say that I only had my views because my mother has my views, but when you get older, you realize why you choose to support things.
The argument was on, I think, race and people being racist. I did have a friend in school who I lost who was of color and she was actually one of my really best friends. But the teacher on Facebook was talking about using this certain terminology.
This whole thing is still new to everybody so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I think it just kind of turned into a brawl. Eventually I just left it at what it was. I didn’t want to fight their side and I didn’t want them to push it on me. I didn’t want to push what I believed on them.
I have posted a few things on my Instagram quoting God and some people will say that’s wrong, that anybody can do what they want to do, so I’ve gotten a few hate comments. I just ignore it and let it go.
You’ve mentioned that you don’t like to let politics influence your relationships with your friends that much, but have there been any ways that politics have changed your relationships with your family or community members?
(Until recently, Amelia lived next door to Tabitha Moore, the former president of the Rutland NAACP chapter.)
I have lost neighbors. A lot of people have been moving in or moving out. Personally, we are trying to move to a more quiet neighborhood because there are a lot of active people in this neighborhood. It doesn’t bother us, but it’s just not something we want impacting our lives. We’ve had other neighbors move because of the same thing.
I don’t have those neighbors where I could just walk next door and say “Can we talk about this?” I feel like I don’t have any of that anymore because of what I stand for.
In terms of moving, are you thinking of staying in the area or moving out of Vermont?
We’re looking to stay in the area, but somewhere we can look out the window and enjoy what’s outside rather than seeing everybody’s signs outside so we can just keep our views to ourselves and let everybody else have theirs.
Where do you get the majority of your news?
I am not a huge newsie. If I see something that really sticks out to me personally, I like to dig into it on the internet to see for myself if it’s true.
Do you have one political issue that is the most important for you today?
Black Lives Matter. I wouldn’t say it’s annoying, but I would say that it’s a little pushy as a group.
Was that an issue for you before this summer?
As it has grown, it’s gotten a little out of hand. I was fine with it when people were quiet and peaceful about it. As it’s grown, it’s gotten a little bit more aggressive.
What is your opinion on crime and law enforcement?
Now that I’m going to college I have to find out what I want to do for a career. For a while, I wanted to be a police officer, so I went to the academy and shadowed a canine cop, which was the best experience ever. It was so cool to see how they trained their dogs and how they train. Now that there is a lot of backlash on law enforcement, I don’t want to go into that field.
There are some cops that can be a little violent or who do something wrong this time and then they get taken off of that job. I think that’s wrong. If they do something wrong, they should have to go train again to earn their spot back.
There is a lot of hate, but if a cop does something wrong or shoots the wrong person, there should be something that they can do to prove themselves again because as we go on in life, there’s a lot more negativity and a lot more crime.
Can I ask your opinion on President Trump?
I support him because he stands up for our military and his views on abortion. I think that it’s really wrong. Everybody has a baby for a reason. There’s rape and [abortion] can’t always be avoided but I think there’s a better option, like adoption, once you have the baby, if you can’t afford it.
Phil Scott?
I did not vote for Phil Scott this year even though he is Republican. I think a lot of his views are two-sided even though he states he’s a Republican. I can touch on the coronavirus. I think his mandates are a little much. We can go to Walmart for Black Friday but I can’t have my grandma and grandpa who live a ways away to come see me for Thanksgiving.
Are there any local politicians who you really strongly support?
Art Peterson. He’s just won by a recount. I did go down to the town hall and stand with a sign to promote him during the presidential election. I think his views are really impactful. He saw that our school was doing no spectators during corona, which I understand is a safety liability, but it was really sad not to have people there.
I feel like a lot of political stuff shouldn’t be a part of school. It should just be you going to learn what you need to learn to go to college and get a job and then that’s when politics should be fine. I think he’s trying to get some of that out of school just so we can have school.
Can you tell me anything about the times you have felt judged or shamed?
I do have a Trump sweatshirt, so when I walk around sometimes I’ll wear it out. I have gotten some looks or “Oh that’s racist” every once in a while. Other than that, not really. Sometimes I do think that I shouldn’t wear this because I don’t want to hear people say stuff so I’m not going to wear my hat or I’m not going to wear my shirt.