We were part of a team of eight DW journalists who traveled from California to Florida hoping to understand why so many in this country see this election as the most important in their lifetime.

Side note.

We just tested negative for coronavirus.

So in a 7000 miles on the road, how did this all begin?

Well, we started our road trip on the West Coast.

This guy was great because of the wildfires.

Way went to visit a family, a little farm on.

They had lost everything way, got married here on the farm, actually, just under that oak tree over there.

And you know, so not having that not having pictures of our friends that z hard eso while we're in California?

Actually, Trump made a surprise visit to California because he hadn't really been talking about the wildfires until then.

Yeah, it seemed that he wanted to show people in California that he actually cared about it.

It was really fascinating how excited they were here.

Oh, my God!

Way got to get another four more.

Okay, Another four more keep America great, but it wasn't just Trump supporters showed up.

It was also there were protests there.

Well, remember that that was a long and taking Okay, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

At a certain point, there was rumors going around that an accident happened.

Somebody had driven their car into protestors.

What seemed kind of crazy to me is that this Onley made the local news that cars driving into protesters has become so commonplace in this country that it doesn't even resonate anymore.

Do you guys need anything right now?

Do you need anything?

Okay.

So then we left California and we went to Mormon country, right to Utah.

I mean, many people know it because it's stunningly beautiful.

These red rocks, these arches.

But it's also Mormon country Onda.

We met this woman.

She showed us her church.

She really walked us through her fears.

So if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would become president and vice president, what would this mean for your country?

I think that it would mean a big downfall.

We would have a civil war again.

There would be a civil war here, I believe if they were to become because there's a lot of Americans that don't want to be a new world order.

They don't want to be part of the New World Order.

She's really, really preparing for the worst.

This is just my basic survival school.

Forgot a raincoat.

I got some, um, keep peace and stuff to help keep me warm.

And the Mormons obviously are preppers in that regard.

Anyhow, they're always prepared, you know, to be ready to go.

But now, with this election coming, and with the fear that this country might turn into chaos, they're gonna extra prepared.

Obviously, more of them than usual are getting weapons as well.

I think that's my gun.

Oh, and I wouldn't be able to hurt nobody with I wouldn't I'd be like, Stay away.

Don't make me hurt myself, because I Because I can't hurt people.

But I wouldn't wanna hurt myself either.

So but yeah, so it's I don't even Yeah, it's not loaded bullets.

Or somewhere in here, I'd have to hit somebody with it before I even get hurt with that.

Shoot him.

So yeah, So immigration is one of the most important topic in this election.

So you have those who are afraid that mawr immigrants would take their jobs away.

They want Donald Trump to build this wall.

They want him to protect their jobs and then you have the others.

They think America, the United States are is rich enough really to support those in neat.

And that's what we experience everywhere.

Pretty went Thio, Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado And there we met a man from West Africa who is just waiting to be deported.

In some ways, I feel like I'm an outsider, even though I've been here for 20 years, you know, I've assimilated to the culture language, um, customs, you name it.

But however, because there isn't that green card or citizenship kind of passport that says I am an American, I feel like I'm outside.

I'm other instead of being an American.

So normally you would assume that Trump supporters don't take care of African refugee from West Africa without any legal papers.

But they did for us, you know, these are adopted son basically and way what?

What would How would we feel if that happened to Brandon or Sean are physiologic sons?

And if you want to see that report by our colleague Oliver Salad, you can find the link in the description under this video.

Okay, so this, uh, election campaign is also shaped by images of burning houses and burning cars.

Kenosha is one of those places way drove there just a month after the riots have happened.

It was pretty moving to see these thes burned cars on to imagine what this place went through.

Trump points to that town and says, Look what happens when you have, uh, Democrats in charge.

And then Democrats point to that town and they say yes.

Houses burned and cars burned.

And there was a lot of destruction from black lives matter, protesters and from Antifa.

But two people died there.

Yeah, and the two people who died there were protesters allegedly killed by a young man with a rifle from the right wing.

So you can really see how people can take a city like Kenosha and turned it into two different stories.

I think what we experience really from this side to the other side is that there's hardly any place where people come together and share their arguments.

And I think Kenosha would be a good place so well in the election really started at this point in Ohio Way went there to the little town of Springfield, which was really fairly rich some years ago.

But now it's really decimated because of the industrial changes which voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

And we talked to the head of the Democratic local Democratic Party there, Andi asked him, You know why things have changed and what he expects What they were hearing and what actually has happened is two different things they were hearing.

Donald Trump is gonna do all these magnificent thing he's gonna take care of.

You know he's going to help the American workers on that.

Just that promise has not been helped.

You never know until the balance accounting what I hope.

I hope Joe Biden becomes our next president.

That's what I would help.

But there's one voting bloc in the United States that really doesn't seem like it's going to change its mind, and that is why we went to Indiana, right?

We went there to meet evangelicals.

It's up to 25% off those Americans who vote, and their main issue is abortion, their anti abortion.

That's the topic.

They kind of come together behind.

They don't really care so much about Donald Trump's personal life.

They don't like it that he cusses and swears.

But they say for them hey is the right president because he is fighting with them against abortion.

There's a lot about Donald Trump that I don't like that I don't agree with, um, but in the areas that he does promote truth and justice, I pray that God would bless his administration.

But this, of course, only applies toe white evangelicals, because if you look at black evangelicals, picture is completely different.

And that's why we went down south to Georgia to talk to black voters, right?

That's when early voting began in Georgia.

Yeah, way talked to many people who explain to us how difficult it is in this year's election, uh, to find places to vote, especially for African Americans.

Way saw massive lion's at some of these polling places in Georgia on the first day, some people waited up to 12 hours to cast their ballot, so this was early voting people who are going there weeks ahead of the election.

One thing that really moved me was this moment when a woman who had been standing in line for hours and it was really hot.

She collapsed.

Mhm.

A lot of a sudden she gets up and a poll worker escorted her into the building.

She refused to go home, but she wanted to vote and he said, Well, you've waited long enough.

I'm gonna take you inside.

Well, many say this is the most important election in their lifetime, and I I agree.

I mean, I was really stunned about the patients off the people.

I mean, they stood there in the rain and the heat.

That shows you how important this year's election is and how much it means for many, many Americans to be able to vote way kind of went off to another planet to Florida thing theme Most important swing state.

If Donald Trump doesn't win Florida, he probably has lost the elections.

So we went to this little place.

Kamala Harris, the vice presidential candidate from the Democrats, were holding a small event aunt outside things place there were Trump supporters these up, uh, that your training?

Hi.

Try toe talk to them and try to understand why they hate Kamala Harris so much.

High man Kamel Harris is right there.

What would you tell her if you would be able to speak with her?

She's a communist.

She's garbage.

She's locked so many black people up.

She's actually a monster, just like Biden.

She's a very ignorant woman.

But I have to say, as a reporter, I kind of failed way said we were on the road to the White House.

But you can't get that close to the White House and this'll fences telling you so Just put it up for election night.

So I think that pretty much tells the story of this, this United States of America.