不滿華盛頓 選民對中選作用悲觀

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — Jane Dempsey has been out of work since 2007, but she still has faith in the Colorado economy. What she has lost heart in, she said after casting her vote at the municipal building here Tuesday morning, are the public officials representing her in the nation’s capital.

科羅拉多州麥嶺——簡·鄧普西(Jane Dempsey)自2007年以來一直失業，但對科羅拉多的經濟仍然有信心。而讓她失去信心的，是在首都代表自己的公職人員，鄧普西周二上午在這裏的市政大樓投完票後說道。

“There’s too much fighting in Washington,” said Ms. Dempsey, 59, after voting for the Democratic candidates for Senate and governor here, in two of the most contested races in the nation. “Everybody is trying to get their own way, and things are not getting done the way they should be getting done.”

“華盛頓的爭鬥太多了，”現年59歲的鄧普西說。她剛剛爲競選參議員和本州州長的民主黨候選人投了票。這是全國最激烈的兩場選戰。“人人都想按自己的方法行事，但卻沒有按照應當的方式完成工作。”

When asked if her vote would change anything, Ms. Dempsey glanced back at the empty sidewalk leading to the polling place. “I don’t know,” she said. “I really don’t know.”

在被問到她的投票是否會促成改變時，鄧普西回頭看了看通往投票點的空曠人行道。“我不知道，”她說，“我真的不知道。”

Ms. Dempsey’s bleak view of the state of American politics resonated across the country on Tuesday, with voters heading in and out of polls expressing frustration and resentment against all things Washington: President Obama and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, big-money contributors and the Supreme Court decision that opened the financial floodgates for negative advertisements in states like this.

鄧普西對美國政治現狀的悲觀態度週二在美國各地十分普遍，出入投票站的選民們將失望和不滿傾瀉向華盛頓的所有對象：奧巴馬總統和國會，共和黨人和民主黨人，財大氣粗的捐款人，以及最高法院爲這裏及其他各州出現的負面廣告宣傳打開資金閥門的決定。

Whatever the health of the stock market or the encouraging drop in the unemployment rate, there was clear anxiety about the economy; Ms. Dempsey was not the only person who reported being unable to find a job. Optimism about the future was in short supply in this a-pox-on-all-your-houses climate.

雖然股市向好，失業率也令人鼓舞地有所下降，但人們明顯對經濟存在擔憂；鄧普西並非唯一一個說自己找不到工作的人。在諸多方面出現問題的背景下，人們很難對未來感到樂觀。

“I feel like I’m in that class of people that’s kind of getting left behind in this whirlwind,” said Etrulia Byrd, 37, a waitress from Anchorage. “I’m in that economic class of people that works really, really hard and will probably never get too far ahead, barely makes it, and kind of gets punished for it.”

“我感到我所在的階層，似乎在這個瘋狂的時代落在了後面，”現年37歲的艾圖裏亞·伯德(Etrulia Byrd)說，她是一個來自安克雷奇的服務員。“處在我這種經濟層次的人，工作非常非常努力，但可能永遠都無法爬得太高，生活捉襟見肘，而且還似乎爲此受到懲罰。”

Despite all the negativity, a number of voters said they thought their votes mattered — in particular Republicans, who said that winning control of the Senate would curb what many described as the excesses of Mr. Obama. “The Democrats are spending too much money, Obamacare is a farce and needs to be repealed — or at least substantially repealed,” said William Burke, 66, a retired lawyer who lives in Georgia and voted Republican.

儘管存在這些負面情緒，還是有選民稱，他們認爲自己的選票是有意義的——尤其是共和黨人，他們說，贏得參議院控制權將能夠對許多人描述的奧巴馬的無度之舉加以限制。“民主黨人花錢太多，奧巴馬醫保是一場鬧劇，必須廢除——至少廢除它的主要部分，”現年66歲的退休律師威廉·伯克(William Burke)說。他住在佐治亞州，已經爲共和黨投了票。

But many voters said that after watching the infighting in Washington — and considering the fact that Mr. Obama is heading into the twilight of his presidency — they did not think that anything made much of a difference.

但許多選民稱，在看到華盛頓的勾心鬥角之後——考慮到奧巴馬正在進入總統任期的黃昏——他們不認爲現狀會發生很大改變。

“They just don’t seem to get anything done anymore,” said John Miller, an independent in Iowa voting at the Red Oak Fire Department. “All they do is fight between each other and don’t get anything done. So we — and I — need something different in there. Everything needs to change.”

“他們現在似乎做不了任何事情，”在紅橡樹消防站投票的艾奧瓦州的獨立人士約翰·米勒(John Miller)說。“他們只會明爭暗鬥，一事無成。因此我們需要那裏發生改變。一切都需要改變。”

The interviews came in an election in which many analysts were expecting a notably low turnout, reflecting the distress many people have voiced about the state of the government. Again and again, voters said they were exhausted after having been deluged with attack advertising on television, emails pleading for money and election pamphlets clogging their mailboxes. Such bombardments only that reinforced their disenchantment with Washington, they said.

很多分析師都預計這次選舉的投票率會非常低，從這些採訪來看，很多人對政府的現狀怨聲載道。一個又一個的選民說，互相攻擊的競選廣告在電視上氾濫，懇求捐錢的電郵和選舉傳單堵塞了郵箱，令他們感到筋疲力盡。這樣的轟炸無非是讓他們對華盛頓更加不抱幻想，他們說。

“There’s no such thing as a good politician, I’m sorry,” said Christi Miller, 43, an Obama supporter from Hot Springs, Ark. “They may start out that way, but I think once you get in and once you get painted with bribes, and you have to take care of the people who contributed to you. ... ” Her voice trailed off. “They would care if they were actually running for office for the right reasons,” she said. “They’re running for office for money and power.”

“很遺憾，世界上不存在‘好的政治家’這種東西，”43歲的克里斯蒂·米勒(Christi Miller)說。她來自阿肯色州溫泉城，是奧巴馬的支持者。她說，“他們可能最開始顯得是那樣，但我認爲，一旦你上了臺，一旦你收受過賄賂，你就必須照顧那些給你提供獻金的人……”她的聲音漸漸變小。“如果他們真的是爲正確的原因競選公職，他們就會在乎，”她說。“但他們是在爲金錢和權力競選公職。”

Still, for the most part, views on who was to blame were, not surprisingly, divided based on party line. “I’m not a huge fan of Obama, but I do think he came in trying to compromise, and he was stymied,” said Bronwyn Williams, 53, a Democrat and a professor of English at the University of Louisville, as he cast a vote in Kentucky, where Mitch McConnell held on to his Senate seat. Mr. Williams added, “I do think there are Republicans who are interested in good governance, but Mitch McConnell isn’t one of them.”

不過，在大多數情況下，人們對“這該怪誰”的回答都是以黨派爲界限的。“我不是奧巴馬的超級粉絲，但我認爲他在試圖做出妥協，卻遭到阻撓，”53歲的民主黨人布朗溫·威廉姆斯(Bronwyn Williams)說。他是路易斯維爾大學(University of Louisville)的英語教授，在肯塔基州投票，該州參議員米奇·麥康奈爾(Mitch McConnell)已經保住了自己的席位。威廉姆斯還說，“我認爲，還是有共和黨人對善政感興趣的，但麥康奈爾不是其中一員。”

Warren Sloan, 45, a mechanic, voted Democratic in the Georgia election and said that although he blamed both parties for the battling, he faulted Republicans more.

沃倫·斯隆(Warren Sloan)是佐治亞州一名45歲的機修工，他投票支持民主黨，並表示，雖然他覺得爭鬥雙方都有錯，但共和黨人問題更大。

“Everybody’s doing their part,” Mr. Sloan said. “But one thing I’ve noticed about the Republican Party — and I’ve listened to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for years — is they can tell you what you’re doing wrong, but they can’t come up with a better solution.”

“每個人都在做自己的那部分工作，”斯隆說。“但我注意到了一件事，就是共和黨——我聽拉什·林博(Rush Limbaugh)和肖恩·漢尼提(Sean Hannity)的發言已經很多年——可以告訴你哪些地方做錯了，但卻拿不出一個更好的解決方案來。”

Ann Halloran, 72, an independent who said she had voted for Republicans as she left the polls in Salem, N.H., called Mr. Obama “the driving force that has caused us to go in the wrong direction, and hopefully these people are going to be the ones that are going to take a step back.”

在離開新罕布什爾州薩勒姆的一個投票點時，72歲的獨立人士安·哈洛倫(Ann Halloran)說，自己給共和黨投了票。她說奧巴馬“已經推動我們走向了錯誤的方向，希望共和黨可以拉着我們往後退一步”。

The issue that the White House might have expected to boost Democratic candidates — the economy, which by many measures is in far better condition than it was even two years ago — may have in fact proved to be a negative for the president and his party. In preliminary exit polls of voters conducted by Edison Research, a large majority of voters described the national economy in negative terms and most said the United States economic system favored the wealthy.

問題是，白宮可能之前曾預期，經濟因素對民主黨候選人有利——從很多方面來看，即便是和兩年前相比，經濟狀況都獲得了大幅改善——但其實對於奧巴馬和民主黨，它可能成了一個負面因素。愛迪生研究機構(Edison Research)進行的投票後初步民意調查顯示，在談到國民經濟時，絕大多數選民都使用了負面詞彙；大多數人認爲，美國的經濟體系偏袒富人。

The exit poll showed most Americans disapproved of Mr. Obama, and that clearly hurt Democratic candidates. “Obama has not accomplished what he promised to the community,” said Juan Neyra, 69, a retired security guard in Denver. He said he used to vote for Democrats, but this year had voted for the Republican Senate candidate, Representative Cory Gardner, who was challenging Senator Mark Udall, a Democrat. “And Udall supports Obama,” Mr. Neyra said.

這項民調顯示，大多數美國人不認同奧巴馬，這種狀況顯然不利於民主黨候選人。“奧巴馬未能兌現他對社區的承諾，”69歲的胡安·內拉(Juan Neyra)說。他來自丹佛，退休之前是名保安。內拉說自己曾經投票支持民主黨人，但今年卻把票投給了共和黨參議員候選人、衆議員科裏·加德納(Cory Gardner)，而非現任的民主黨參議員馬克·尤德爾(Mark Udall)。“而尤德爾支持奧巴馬，”內拉說。