The United States is preparing, in an atmosphere of heightened tension, to elect its next president Tuesday.

Agence France-Presse visited dozens of cities to collect American testimonies on the pressing issues raised in this ballot.

- "There is no hope" -

Whoever wins the presidential election November 3, Damon Lane asserts that his slum in Baltimore, where the majority of the population is Black and poor, will continue to suffer from drug trafficking and armed settling of scores, and abandoned homes inhabited by rats will remain.

"We did not see any difference with the last three presidents, and therefore we will not see any difference with the next president. I have no hope. The only hope left for me is my hope for myself, and what I can do for my family," he says.

Trump 'rebel'
Brian Mello, the former employee of a General Motors plant that shut down in rural Ohio, confirms that he supports Donald Trump no matter what.

"What I like about him is that he is a businessman with a strong personality. The United States was founded by rebels ... and Trump is rebellious in a certain sense," he says.

He does not blame the president for not reviving the devastated industries in the western center of the country. He says, "I think that this is something he promised, but he did not find the means to achieve it."

No "nice little houses" on the outskirts of cities

Brooke Manuel, who helped found the group Women from the Suburbs Against Trump in Connecticut, began the mobilization against the president when he announced that his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, wanted to "destroy your neighborhoods and the American dream" by permitting the construction of low-cost housing in them.

"I felt horrified when I saw how he tried to portray suburban women as if they were from his camp, and racists like him," she says.

"He describes us that we fear losing our beautiful little houses with their white fences and beautiful gardens, but this does not apply at all to the people I mix with," she said.

"Where is the danger?

Bill Burke, a 55-year-old history professor, warns against opinion polls, speaking in Scranton, Joe Biden's birthplace in Pennsylvania.

"No Democrat in the United States trusts (victory) because everyone, even Donald Trump himself, was surprised in 2016," says the Democrat, wearing a blue mask, the color of his eyes and his party. How will victory elude us?

‘Treating people with respect'

Dan Parker, 67, a retired Mormon judge and a "long-standing Republican", and his wife, founded the "Arizona Republicans for Biden" movement, rejecting Trump's behavior and positions.

He says, "We believe that we should treat people with respect. If the two candidates were the same, I would vote for those who are against abortion. But these two candidates are not the same. One of them will strengthen our democracy in my opinion. As for the other, I think it will have a very negative impact on our democracy if elected. again.”

‘Against "bureaucrats’

Jim and Sue Chilton were very happy in 2016 with the victory of Donald Trump, and the couple who own a large ranch in Arizona will be very happy this year as well if he is reelected.

"The bureaucrats are all urban dwellers, they are not farmers who produce, and they can give a variety of snailers, priority over a good farm operation," said Jim, 81.

"We needed a permit to do anything on our soil. The Trump government has removed all of these demands," he says.

‘Systemic racism’

Oscar Walton did not vote in the 2016 election. Between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, he saw that "neither of them really meets people's needs." But this year, the 28-year-old black American intends to vote for Joe Biden, albeit without much enthusiasm.

"I honestly think Trump should be removed from power. He is a racist for systemic racism. A man like this should not run the country," he says.