Occupation: government clerk, unemployed
Personal: divorced father of four
2008 vote: Obama
Kenneth Jackson wanted Romney to 鈥渄azzle鈥� him in the last weeks of the campaign. If he did, the once-passionate Obama voter might have done the unthinkable: pull the lever for the Republican Party鈥檚 candidate on Nov. 6.
The dazzle, however, fizzled.
Romney鈥檚 chance with Mr. Jackson had everything to do with both the national and his personal economy: Unemployed for two years, the divorced dad of four kids needed a vision of hope for himself and his family that鈥檚 different from the one Obama sold four years ago.
In an interview with the Monitor in September, Jackson said Romney would have to 鈥渃onvince me that he is just as interested in seeing mom and pop business flourish as those who have already gotten to a certain level in society.鈥�
Instead, a small article he spotted about an auto parts manufacturer in Freeport, Ill., confirmed Jackson鈥檚 suspicions of Romney as an uncaring Wall Street apologist. In Freeport, employees of Sensata Technologies, partly owned by Romney鈥檚 former finance firm, Bain Capital, have protested the company鈥檚 decision to send work to China as employees sought to unionize.
While Romney hasn鈥檛 handled Bain Capital business for more than a decade, he still stands to profit from corporate moves at Sensata 鈥� the main reason that workers have pleaded with him, so far unsuccessfully, to use his influence to push Bain to reconsider its strategy.
While Jackson acknowledges that Romney can鈥檛 be held directly responsible, the situation, to him at least, 鈥渋s an indication of not only the tenor of leadership that [Romney] put in place at [Bain], but I would also wager that a lot of corporate entities probably feel that it鈥檚 OK to conduct business in this manner under a Romney administration.鈥�
The Sensata story, he says, 鈥減ut the nail in the coffin鈥� of a Romney vote, at least for him.
While Romney鈥檚 robust performance in the first debate changed the trajectory of the presidential race, it also didn鈥檛 do enough to jar Jackson鈥檚 vote.
鈥淚 watched the first debate in terms of just the kind of horse-race thing, and I would concede that [Romney] performed very well,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut in terms of communicating a vision or a type of direction that is doable or worth my investing my vote in, I still found that wanting.鈥�
He adds, 鈥淎fter the second and third debate, I was, like, 鈥楿h-oh, not working out.鈥� 鈥�
But a vote lost for Romney makes for only a reluctant one gained for Obama. Jackson鈥檚 hope now is that Obama is right when he says on the stump that the economy is on its way back and that jobs will soon return, along with a rise in median incomes.
In Jackson鈥檚 state of Florida, Romney is leading by 2.1 points in the Oct. 26 RealClearPolitics average.
Unable so far to find steady work, Jackson is now taking tax preparation classes in hopes of getting hired as a seasonal tax preparer in January. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the only thing I can look forward to right now,鈥� he says.
鈥� Patrik Jonsson, staff writer
