不满华盛顿 选民对中选作用悲观

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.

科罗拉多州麦岭——简·邓普西(Jane Dempsey)自2007年以来一直失业，但对科罗拉多的经济仍然有信心。而让她失去信心的，是在首都代表自己的公职人员，邓普西周二上午在这里的市政大楼投完票后说道。

“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.”

“华盛顿的争斗太多了，”现年59岁的邓普西说。她刚刚为竞选参议员和本州州长的民主党候选人投了票。这是全国最激烈的两场选战。“人人都想按自己的方法行事，但却没有按照应当的方式完成工作。”

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.”

在被问到她的投票是否会促成改变时，邓普西回头看了看通往投票点的空旷人行道。“我不知道，”她说，“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.

邓普西对美国政治现状的悲观态度周二在美国各地十分普遍，出入投票站的选民们将失望和不满倾泻向华盛顿的所有对象：奥巴马总统和国会，共和党人和民主党人，财大气粗的捐款人，以及最高法院为这里及其他各州出现的负面广告宣传打开资金阀门的决定。

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.

虽然股市向好，失业率也令人鼓舞地有所下降，但人们明显对经济存在担忧；邓普西并非唯一一个说自己找不到工作的人。在诸多方面出现问题的背景下，人们很难对未来感到乐观。

“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.”

“我感到我所在的阶层，似乎在这个疯狂的时代落在了后面，”现年37岁的艾图里亚·伯德(Etrulia Byrd)说，她是一个来自安克雷奇的服务员。“处在我这种经济层次的人，工作非常非常努力，但可能永远都无法爬得太高，生活捉襟见肘，而且还似乎为此受到惩罚。”

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.

尽管存在这些负面情绪，还是有选民称，他们认为自己的选票是有意义的——尤其是共和党人，他们说，赢得参议院控制权将能够对许多人描述的奥巴马的无度之举加以限制。“民主党人花钱太多，奥巴马医保是一场闹剧，必须废除——至少废除它的主要部分，”现年66岁的退休律师威廉·伯克(William Burke)说。他住在佐治亚州，已经为共和党投了票。

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.

但许多选民称，在看到华盛顿的勾心斗角之后——考虑到奥巴马正在进入总统任期的黄昏——他们不认为现状会发生很大改变。

“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.”

“他们现在似乎做不了任何事情，”在红橡树消防站投票的艾奥瓦州的独立人士约翰·米勒(John Miller)说。“他们只会明争暗斗，一事无成。因此我们需要那里发生改变。一切都需要改变。”

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.

很多分析师都预计这次选举的投票率会非常低，从这些采访来看，很多人对政府的现状怨声载道。一个又一个的选民说，互相攻击的竞选广告在电视上泛滥，恳求捐钱的电邮和选举传单堵塞了邮箱，令他们感到筋疲力尽。这样的轰炸无非是让他们对华盛顿更加不抱幻想，他们说。

“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.”

“很遗憾，世界上不存在‘好的政治家’这种东西，”43岁的克里斯蒂·米勒(Christi Miller)说。她来自阿肯色州温泉城，是奥巴马的支持者。她说，“他们可能最开始显得是那样，但我认为，一旦你上了台，一旦你收受过贿赂，你就必须照顾那些给你提供献金的人……”她的声音渐渐变小。“如果他们真的是为正确的原因竞选公职，他们就会在乎，”她说。“但他们是在为金钱和权力竞选公职。”

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.”

不过，在大多数情况下，人们对“这该怪谁”的回答都是以党派为界限的。“我不是奥巴马的超级粉丝，但我认为他在试图做出妥协，却遭到阻挠，”53岁的民主党人布朗温·威廉姆斯(Bronwyn Williams)说。他是路易斯维尔大学(University of Louisville)的英语教授，在肯塔基州投票，该州参议员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)已经保住了自己的席位。威廉姆斯还说，“我认为，还是有共和党人对善政感兴趣的，但麦康奈尔不是其中一员。”

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.

沃伦·斯隆(Warren Sloan)是佐治亚州一名45岁的机修工，他投票支持民主党，并表示，虽然他觉得争斗双方都有错，但共和党人问题更大。

“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.”

“每个人都在做自己的那部分工作，”斯隆说。“但我注意到了一件事，就是共和党——我听拉什·林博(Rush Limbaugh)和肖恩·汉尼提(Sean Hannity)的发言已经很多年——可以告诉你哪些地方做错了，但却拿不出一个更好的解决方案来。”

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.”

在离开新罕布什尔州萨勒姆的一个投票点时，72岁的独立人士安·哈洛伦(Ann Halloran)说，自己给共和党投了票。她说奥巴马“已经推动我们走向了错误的方向，希望共和党可以拉着我们往后退一步”。

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.

问题是，白宫可能之前曾预期，经济因素对民主党候选人有利——从很多方面来看，即便是和两年前相比，经济状况都获得了大幅改善——但其实对于奥巴马和民主党，它可能成了一个负面因素。爱迪生研究机构(Edison Research)进行的投票后初步民意调查显示，在谈到国民经济时，绝大多数选民都使用了负面词汇；大多数人认为，美国的经济体系偏袒富人。

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.

这项民调显示，大多数美国人不认同奥巴马，这种状况显然不利于民主党候选人。“奥巴马未能兑现他对社区的承诺，”69岁的胡安·内拉(Juan Neyra)说。他来自丹佛，退休之前是名保安。内拉说自己曾经投票支持民主党人，但今年却把票投给了共和党参议员候选人、众议员科里·加德纳(Cory Gardner)，而非现任的民主党参议员马克·尤德尔(Mark Udall)。“而尤德尔支持奥巴马，”内拉说。