Local elections dominate the conversation in many NJ towns

Voters are split on a variety of issues as they are every election season. There are very few undecided voters between former President Trump and VP Kamala Harris.

It seems that the polls across the nation show the closeness of the race in all of the battleground states. I remember working for President Bush (the first one) in 1992 as a part of the Bush/Quayle campaign.

As the campaign headed into the final week, the polls showed a very close race. National polling in some cases had the President in an essential tie with Governor Bill Clinton.

Of course, when Election Day came, the race wasn't really close.

Since I'm really not a prognosticator of election results, or at least not a good one having predicted a Jim Florio win in 1993 and a Romney win in 2012, I'll focus on what I can do, which is watch the local races and gauge the enthusiasm as an indicator of future results.

I can tell you that in New Jersey, a state that is more purple than deep blue, enthusiasm for local Republicans is at an all-time high.

As I make my way around the state with my wife Jodi, we're knocking on doors for local candidates. We've knocked on Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated voters' doors.

I'm hearing several things in each conversation. The cost of living is out of control and Harris has been in office for 4 years so how can she blame Trump?

I don't feel safe in my home as the NJ government has done very little to curb the spike in car thefts and associated home invasions.

And finally, why are we paying for illegal aliens to have legal support, housing, transportation, and higher education while we have middle and working-class families struggling to make ends meet?

SEE ALSO: Could the presidential election be a tie? (Opinion)

For the past couple of years, parental rights also topped the list as the Governor, the AG and the majority in the legislature have continued to push rules and laws that empower predators and groomers further a divide between children and their parents.

We've had an increase in the number of parents, both gay and straight, who call the show upset at the egregious assault on parental rights as schools in some cases have been bullied by the state to push near-pornography in the libraries and hide gender confusion among children from mom and dad.

Popping up across 21 counties in the Garden State are signs for local board of education candidates, council candidates, and mayoral challengers.

There is a consistent theme of affordability and parental rights relative to the local races and many of those energized voters will likely vote up the ticket for the GOP candidates at the top.

I don't know if there's a chance that Donald Trump will win NJ, but I can tell you, the Democrats are certainly concerned as they are spending millions across the state to turn out their base and convert unaffiliated voters.

We'll see, Election Day is just a few days away.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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