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Voters say they are worried that the election will widen a national divide regardless of who wins.

Some say the division emanated from four years of the Trump administration, where the president failed to denounce white supremacy and systemic racism.

On one side are Biden supporters who think Trump has promoted fringe groups and focused on anti-immigration policies. On the other side are Trump supporters who think law and order translates into more police and decry some being called racist. In many ways the divide also played out in a debate over the economy vs. Covid-19.

Oregon natives Adelaide Robison, 20, and Laura Anes, 22, for example, are worried that the violence they saw in Portland after the George Floyd death will spread to several major U.S. cities. They talked about this while visiting Washington, D.C.

鈥淭rump has made it so much easier for people with far right-wing beliefs to come out and say, 鈥楬ey, I am a racist,鈥欌�� Anes said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 made it a lot easier for people to be hateful.鈥�

Kansas master鈥檚 student Rosie Mansour predicts that this divisiveness will trigger post-election unrest. 鈥淧resident Trump has called for his supporters to be more aggressive and more violent regardless of the outcome,鈥� Mansour, 23, said. 鈥淪o, if he wins, there will be rioting in support of him. If he loses, there will be rioting because they鈥檙e upset.鈥�

Stores in Washington, D.C., are preparing for election-related troubles. Stores with boarded-up windows are even more prominent near the White House.

Robison said when the most powerful man in the country expresses a racist view, he gives permission to a specific group of people who think it鈥檚 acceptable to think that way. 鈥淗e is the leader of this new movement of people that are very proud of things they shouldn鈥檛 be proud of.鈥�

Anes says this is scary.

Anes, who identifies as queer, says she and her girlfriend have to be very careful not to draw attention to themselves. She believes the country has regressed.

Robison, her girlfriend, agrees.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so disappointing to me,鈥� Robison said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think everything was perfect, but I think everything was normal-ish. It鈥檚 disappointing that we鈥檝e regressed so far.鈥�

鈥淚 think that it will take a really long time before at least half of the country believes that that鈥檚 not the way things should be.鈥�

Can the nation heal?

As the worries fester, Washington-area activists are already thinking about how to bridge the massive political chasm.

White Christian leaders need to spearhead this movement, said Iva Carruthers, general secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, a Christian organization within the African American faith tradition focused on justice and equity issues.

鈥淚 think it’s going to take leadership, particularly … white faith leaders, who are willing to move far beyond their comfort zones to confront, educate and advocate toward a demand for a new way forward,鈥� Carruthers said. 鈥淚t’s time for white people to step up and confront other white people.鈥�

Policy, education and behavioral modeling can also promote national unity in non-faith circles and communities, Carruthers said.

But many are too hurt by Trump to see themselves truly uniting with his supporters. Arlene Holt-Baker, chair of the social-action group Community Change, said her faith teaches her that unity is possible and necessary. Still, so many feel the Trump Administration has put so many already-oppressed people in even worse situations.

鈥淗ow can I shout hallelujah for my 401k when others are starving and they are naked?鈥� Holt-Baker said. It’s difficult for me to understand how others can, as a Christian.鈥�

Leaders of secular organizations 鈥� like Bread for the City, a nonpartisan nonprofit that serves low-income and disproportionately marginalized individuals in the District 鈥� feel the same way.

The country鈥檚 political divide has existed much before 2020鈥檚 Trump-Biden showdown, said George Jones, Bread for the City鈥檚 CEO. While grappling with the Trump Administration’s treatment of low-income individuals, Bread for the City is working to undo longstanding policies that have disproportionately impacted Washington residents.

鈥淭hat this past administration represented a kind of slap in the face to what supposedly were the values of the country, so it wasn’t about different politics but this president himself,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 anti-leadership. To have our fellow citizens support him like that, I have hard feelings about the division.鈥�

Politics should step aside

But environmental leaders like John Groutt feel that too much is at stake to squabble over political differences.

Groutt is a founder of the Wicomico Environmental Trust, a nonprofit environmental organization focused on issues impacting the greater Chesapeake Bay watershed.

鈥淲hether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, your land is going to be flooding,鈥� Groutt said. 鈥淪ea levels are rising on the eastern shores of Maryland, farmers aren鈥檛 able to grow good crops and climate change is bringing about brand new diseases. Everyone is going to be majorly impacted, and it doesn’t matter what your politics are.鈥�

Climate activists feel the facts speak for themselves, and partisan politics around climate change are beginning to disappear 鈥� a good thing.

Sarah Greenberger, the National Audubon鈥檚 Society鈥檚 senior vice president of conservation policy, has led party-centered efforts to bridge thoughts that climate change is partisan. Audubon protects birds and their habitats in the United States.

鈥淲e鈥檙e solutions-driven, so we present the science and the facts,鈥� Greenberger said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more productive to focus on the solutions, and people can come to different solutions for different reasons, and that鈥檚 OK.鈥�

Mansour, a Kansas native, says unification starts in the White House. 鈥淲e need to vote him out,鈥� she said as the votes were being counted.

Americans say although the air at Black Lives Matter Plaza is filled with tension, it is also filled with hope and resiliency.

鈥淲hat more do they want from us?鈥� Eman Moore, 24, asked. 鈥淐ause we鈥檒l keep going if we have to, goddamnit. For another four years, we鈥檒l keep fighting.鈥�