A voter fills in his ballot at a polling station in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on Nov. 8, 2016. The U.S. presidential elections kicked off on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/HOUSTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Voters flocked to the polling stations all over the United States on Tuesday, with many casting their ballots for the next president in doubts and reluctance.
After voting at a local polling place in the Borough of Brooklyn, New York, Peter Vanden Bos said he voted for the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because he thought the Republican nominee Donald Trump was divisive, totally unqualified and unfit for the presidency.
"I wish the campaign would not have been so contentious and negative," he said, "I'm just glad it's over."
Trump and Clinton have finished their presidential race with the worst images of any U.S. major-party presidential candidates, found a Gallup poll released Tuesday. Trump has a 61 percent unfavorable rating, compared to 52 percent for Clinton.
In the two main polling stations in the southwestern part of Houston, many voters told Xinhua that this election was very important and critical in terms of deciding the direction the United States would go in the next few years. But they had no choice but to choose from the two unpopular nominees.
As a Republican support base, Texas, which has 38 electoral votes, has been a die-hard red state for many presidential elections. Barack Obama failed to win the Lone Star State in his 2008 and 2012 elections.
Peter Li, tenure professor of the University of Houston, told Xinhua that "this year's presidential election is unarguably the most unconventional one and no matter who will be the new president of the nation, she or he has to establish a positive relationship with China as U.S.-China relations are the most important one in the world and a good U.S.-China relationship is a bipartisan consensus in the nation."
Wearing a bright red cap with "Make America Free Again," Trump supporter Alex Burlak was a rare sighting in Brooklyn that was considered more liberal than the rest of the New York city.
Burlak, a pharmacy owner, said he believed Hillary Clinton was the most corrupt politician in U.S. history and "never told the truth in public, ever."
In Frederick Samuel Community Center in Harlem, northern New York City, voter Desiree Kennedy did not want to disclose whom she had voted for, but said that "honestly, I don't care about either of the candidates."
"It is very scary that in 2016, there are still a lot of people who have very racist views, negative views and sexist views," Kennedy said, adding that "hopefully it will change."
At the same polling station, 44-year-old Pauline Grant said she voted more for moral than for value.
she said, for five generations since her great great great parents, her family had voted for the Democrats. "It's a family tradition."
When asked whether she thought Clinton can reunite the country and make the country great if Clinton was elected, she said she didn't think so. She said she believed that the media was biased against Trump.
In Williamsburg Community Center in Brooklyn, Scott, a startup owner in his 30s who only gave his first name, said: "I voted for Donald Trump, because I want something completely different."
"I appreciate Trump's business spirit because I am a small business owner. It was a difficult choice for me because they both want to get a lot of media attention. You cannot get to know the truth. I think media has been manipulated towards Clinton," Scott said.
In San Francisco City Hall voting center, Mary Hansbury said the election campaign made her nauseous, and really stressed out. "I've been fighting with my parents who have different views."
"I vote for Hillary because she is qualified, and she's gonna do a good job," Hansbury said.
About 19.4 million Californians are registered to vote in this year's general election, up from 18.2 million in 2012, according to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Over 78.04 percent of eligible Californians are registered, which represents the highest percentage of eligible California citizens registered to vote.
More than 8.7 million voters were registered as Democrats, accounting for 44.9 percent of the total registered voters, while more than 5 million voters were registered as Republicans, about 26 percent of the total.
In a polling station at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in downtown Chicago, lawyer Bonnie Miller said that she voted for Trump because Hillary was dishonest, and he did not trust her.
"I think that her Clinton foundation was a slash Fund. I operate a foundation and there is no way I could get away with what they are doing," Miller said.
"If Trump is elected, I think he will undo a lot of the executive orders from the Obama administration. And I think he is in good likelyhood of surrounding himself with people who actually know what they were doing. I think a lot of the people are just really frustrated with the way Washington works right now," she said.
At Jefferson Junior High School voting station in the capital Washington D.C., 55-year-old Tammy Green said he voted for Hillary Clinton. "Hillary has the knowledge, she can control her emotions and is experienced."
"She has learned lessons from her rivals such as Bernie Sanders to absorb their opinions in her policies," said Green.
"Donald Trump took advantage of the underprivileged people, the poor people and the laborers," she said, adding that she felt "this presidential election has been awful."
At RH Recreational Center voting station in Washington D.C., Marina, a European who recently obtained U.S. citizenship, voted for the first time but declined to reveal her decision.
Marina compared the political system here and back home, saying "the U.S. government is paralyzed because the two major political parties are at odds. It's frustrating."
"Big money influenced the election, Hillary Clinton relied heavily on big money and superpacs, but she had more understanding of politics," she said.
