How has middle America experienced the presidential race? Residents of Muncie, Indiana, identify the important issues and consider if they are being addressed

We’ve been asking readers to help guide and shape Gary Younge’s reporting from Muncie, Indiana, where, for the past month, he’s been taking the political pulse of middle America during this volatile election. Here, residents tell us about the issues that matter most to them when it comes to voting, and their experience of living in Muncie. As with Middletowns everywhere, the city faces difficulties, but it seems these are matched by a strong and active community willing to take them on.

Lauren Bishop-Weidner, who taught English at Ball State University for 15 years, told us: “Your first impression of Muncie is probably going to be inaccurate. Most people come in on the east or west side on McGalliard Avenue and you just see box store after box store. But if you go through the neighbourhoods you see diversity and spirit, especially downtown. You need to go all the way through Muncie before you decide what you think.”

Jason Donati family photo 2016 Jason Donati family photo 2016

Jason Donati, 36, has four children, grew up in Muncie and returned eight years ago. He lives in downtown Muncie and is an environmental educator for the Muncie Sanitary District. He is also the co-founder of Race Muncie, which stands for Reconciliation Achieved Through Community Engagement.

There are jobs in Muncie. I know people in economic development and there are a lot of jobs which don’t have enough qualified people. It’s easy to say we haven’t got jobs, that we’ve been screwed over by Nafta [the North American Free Trade Agreement]. We have all felt the effects of losing the automotive industry, that’s true, but what working-class white people have to deal with here is the issue of addiction. I’ve been to a lot of funerals of my friends. The drugs are so much stronger, people in their mid-30s with small children are now dying through recreational use. It’s doubling and tripling and heroin is catching up with meth. There’s a lack of resources in the community for mental health, counselling and healing. The only thing I’m seeing elected officials do is bust the cases, it needs to be addressed as a disease. I lost my middle brother to drugs in 2005. It’s something you deal with your entire life. That’s my motivation, I think about my brother and the impact it’s had on my life, and it’s a rare privilege to live another day. I learned through my two years with AmeriCorps that you have to get out and serve … I’m running for the Muncie community school board and if I get elected I can help address some of these issues.

Chris Allen, 32, is the community development block grant coordinator for Hamilton County, Indiana, helping communities fund activities such as affordable housing, public service programmes and infrastructure projects. He was born and raised in Anderson, about 20 minutes south-west of Muncie, went to Ball State University and has mostly lived in Muncie ever since.

In Muncie, Anderson and the surrounding communities, up until the 1980s, you could go to high school and graduating was optional. You could drop out, get a job at GM, or BorgWarner, or Delco Remy, working on the line. My dad worked there, three-quarters of my elementary class parents worked there. You got married, had the family and the income, health benefits, retirement benefits – you could achieve the American dream. You had the ranch house, ran two cars and, more importantly, could afford to take your family on vacation, going to the lakes or down to Florida. Now, that’s a luxury. These kinds of dreams have been lost, and I think that’s a major driving force of this election. Fifty years ago Muncie was a boom town, what are we going to do to get that back? If that’s not realistic, then how are we going to replace it, how do we get economic gains? There’s no doubt in my mind that there are towns like this across the world but for a lot of people, Muncie is the place. You can’t give up on it, there’s so much work and effort that’s striving to make this place better.

Danielle, 21, grew up in the south-east of Muncie. She graduated from Muncie Central High in 2013 and went to university, but returned to the town after two years because of family illness. She supports herself with two jobs.

The future of Muncie is very bleak, a lot of older people have seen a city just out of its prime, now they see their city is dead. Regeneration is happening downtown, not everyone involved is from the north side but a lot of them are. Typically, that’s where the doctors, lawyers and educators live. On the south side, where those who did the [factory] work live, they don’t see revitalisation happening for the kind of skills they [have]. I do believe healthcare has got worse. I see people all the time who can’t afford treatment. If they choose treatment, they can’t eat or fall into debt and lose their homes. I think education in Muncie is slipping too, they have consolidated two high schools and it has become a mess. It’s hard to talk about, everyone here is very closeted about their opinions, particularly about anything political. But Muncie does have a lot of good: people band together over the slightest thing, there’s strong community when it matters. I do feel proud, we’ve lightened up a lot. Kids going to different states and coming back are influencing us, we’re changing ourselves. I feel part of the regeneration, everyone is helping just a little bit.

Jeannine Lee Lake Jeannine Lee Lake with her husband Aaron celebrating their wedding anniversary in 2016

Jeannine Lee Lake, 47, is a stay-at-home mother, former owner of Grandma Betty’s Ice Cream Shop and editor of the Good News, a bimonthly free publication that focuses on minority and religious issues in Delaware County. She lives in Muncie with her husband, who works at Ball State University, and has four sons.



Muncie’s a great town to raise your children in and you feel safe here. It’s diverse, there are still opportunities for people who aren’t educated … I am an optimistic person, I’m a Christian … my belief is if you care about your family there are resources and opportunities here for you. I’m really embarrassed that these are our candidates. I think [Hillary Clinton] is the lesser of two evils and would be better than Donald Trump. I do believe whoever is next in office should address the rage that is out there among a certain group of white people. They’re very, very, very angry. Some of the stuff I’ve seen on Facebook – people rip at you. I don’t get why white people feel they’re targets. One woman told me on Facebook: ‘My husband is under siege.’ It’s a perceived danger, maybe something about them losing power, socially, economically. However, white males live longer, and they’re more educated than we are. Where’s the siege? Trump is their voice. I don’t mind the voices coming to the table, but why do we have to put other people down to be heard? I think Hillary is the better candidate, Trump will fan the flames of hate and discord. I would like our nation to be better.

Dawn Bernd-Steffes and her husband Tom Steffes in their greenhouse. Dawn Bernd-Steffes and her husband Tom Steffes in their greenhouse.

Dawn Bernd-Steffes, 46, used to teach at Burris Laboratory school in Muncie (she’s now at Union HS) and lives with her husband Tom and their four sons on a small farm 11 miles outside the city.

Muncie is a mixed bag, we’ve seen a lot of changes. There’s been a decline in terms of involvement with the community. When Ball Canning was a huge factory here in Muncie, they had a large foundation and gave back to the community, the new companies aren’t going to to do any of that. New industries don’t have foundations, if they don’t like it here they just move on. They’re doing a lot of work downtown, that’s excellent. We’ve been going to the farmers’ market for the past few years. The atmosphere for the community is super healthy, a lot of people just come to hang out, see friends, buy a cup of coffee, it’s very positive. Another thing we’ve been able to support is the community gardens. I donate vegetable plants for these gardens. They’re used to feed the community. It’s great to be able to drive around and see my plants growing there. In terms of our rural community, it’s tough going for little farmers. We’re seeing bigger and bigger farming operations and there’s nothing left in these small towns. In Mooreland, there used to be a little restaurant, post office, bank, garage and now there’s just a post office open in the mornings, everything else has gone. People are living in the homes but if they own five acres, they work in town, they’re not working in land. Investment bankers out of Chicago bought land at the last auction. The only way small farmers can manage is by selling direct to consumers in farmers’ markets. I don’t think Trump is the answer but I understand the frustrations.

Cornelius Dollison, 74, was born and raised in Muncie and is a retired engineer who worked for the Delco Remy Div of General Motors. He’s been married to Mary, a retired teacher, for 54 years. Both are active in the community. Cornelius serves on many boards, including the Whitely community council.

Muncie is a giving, caring community, it has a reputation for doing more for people than a lot of large places , people love to help each other and that’s not typical. The perception of Whitely, where I live, is that it’s an area folks avoid. We’re trying to dispel that attitude [through our neighbourhood association]. We try to make people proud of our community. Everyone helps each other, elderly and the youth. We deal with a lot of systemic racism. Indiana is a Klan stronghold, some of these problems still exist. We’ve changed the way we look at our neighbourhood, we have a strategic plan. The goals and values we want to pursue are what we focus on. We help other neighbourhoods to find solutions. Look at our elections. We look like we’re going back to 1930s. It’s really crazy that we think we can bring our country together with people who are so divisive. We have systemic hatred people just want to ignore, but this election has brought that out. We have to address those problems … Muncie is getting better, but we as a country have a long way to go.

Producing in-depth, thoughtful, well-reported journalism is expensive – but supporting us isn’t. If you value and enjoy this approach to covering politics, please help to fund our journalism by becoming a Guardian Supporter.



This article was amended on the 7 November to correct the school that a contributor works at.