SISTER BAY, Wis. — Sally Malm, 88, is a supporter of President Biden, but visibly recoiled at the prospect of a 2024 rematch between him and former president Trump.
“I think I’ll just die,” she joked, as another Biden-supporting octogenarian offered his own thoughts on the match-up as he passed her on the sidewalk.
“Gag me with a spoon,” groaned Dan Farwell, 83.
About 20 minutes to the south, at her bike shop on the edge of a bayside state park, Rachel Stollenwerk, a devoted Trump supporter, was just as turned off by the other side.
“If anybody is really paying attention to Biden and how he speaks and how he performs now, I don’t know how someone could justify voting for him,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s almost evil to just keep him in this position.”
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Between Trump fatigue, Biden ambivalence, and strong distaste for the candidate on the other side, there is a stalemate.
With five months to go before the Iowa caucuses and with both Biden and Trump handily out-polling their primary rivals, the country is hurtling toward a repeat of 2020 that has left many voters frustrated, dispirited — and utterly dug in.
The two candidates are currently in a dead heat, with a Wall Street Journal poll in August finding each has the support of 46 percent of the electorate.
Wisconsin is a mirror of this impasse, with the electorate divided 50-50 between the two candidates, according to a statewide poll conducted earlier this summer by Marquette University Law school.
And nowhere embodies the statewide split like Door County, the pinky finger reaching into Lake Michigan on the eastern side of the state. In 2020, Biden carried this summertime haven by 1.4 percentage points. the narrowest margin of any county in the state that year, on his way to winning Wisconsin and the White House. In 2016, Trump won the county — and, again, the state and the White House — by a comparatively comfortable 3.2 percentage points.
“What happens at the state level, we tend to reflect that,” said Stephanie Soucek, the chair of the Door County Republicans, who said her county’s bellwether status gives her some anxiety. “It kind of makes me a little nervous to see the results in Door County.”
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Wisconsin is seen as a key prize by both parties. Democrats are riding high after a liberal candidate, Janet Protasiewicz, easily won a springtime race that rebalanced the state’s Supreme Court. Republicans are so focused on winning the state in 2024 that party officials scheduled both the first primary debate here — which unfolded late last month in Milwaukee — and next year’s Republican National Convention.
But interviews with voters and party officials in this evenly divided county revealed that, even in a hyper-partisan moment, voters in both trenches harbor doubts about their front-runners and frustration with their choices.
“I would rather not see a rematch. I think an awful lot of people in both parties would rather not see a rematch,” said Joel Kitchens, a veterinarian and the Republican state representative for the First Assembly District, which contains all of Door County.
The county is a mix of small industrial towns to the south, and liberal communities sustained by retirees and tourism to the north. It’s a place where labor shortages and environmental concerns are considered bipartisan issues, and Kitchens isn’t sure Trump is best-suited to win the county again next year.
“Most Republicans probably like his policy, but to me at this point, there’s so much baggage,” said Kitchens, who says he would prefer a different candidate, although he has not endorsed one. “He energizes the other side. If he’s the candidate, turnout will be very, very high for them.”
Trump’s record here has been decidedly mixed. In addition to losing and winning the county once each himself, his record in the midterms was equally middling. Senator Ron Johnson, a close Republican ally of Trump’s, squeaked to reelection, winning Door County by less than 100 votes. But the Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Tim Michels, trailed Democratic Governor Tony Evers by five percentage points here.
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“It was very frustrating — there’s no way that the Republican Party should have lost that election,” said Scott Bader, 65, a realtor who lives in the industrial hub of Sturgeon Bay. Bader voted for Trump in 2020, after supporting the independent candidate Evan McMullin in 2016, but says he does not think he can support Trump again in 2024.
“I want somebody to focus on running the country, not on battling everybody,” said Bader, who is a member of the county GOP but does not actually consider himself a Republican because he doesn’t think either national party has people’s best interests in mind.
“If it ends up being Trump as the candidate, we just have to learn how to focus on the issues, and not get sidetracked by distractions,” said Soucek, the GOP chair here.
But the last issues-focused campaign — the spring judicial election — turned on a policy issue, abortion, that backfired on Republicans here and across the state. The state’s near-total ban on abortion, enacted in 1849, went into effect when Roe vs. Wade fell last year, and Republicans here have said openly that it is making it harder for their candidates to win elections. In Door County, Protasiewicz won 57 percent of the vote.
“I do think it should be a concern for all Republicans,” said Kitchens. “We need to be more realistic about what the public’s willing to support.”
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Soucek, the GOP chair, said she believes the issue of transgender kids playing sports could push people to the polls in support of Republican candidates.
“It’s stirring people up,” she said. “We have to find those issues that can galvanize people and we can get them on our side.”
Kris Sadur, the chair of the Door County Democrats, said Democrats will ensure abortion is a “key issue” in 2024.”
“The messaging is important, absolutely, and we want people to be able to have the same rights that I had growing up,” said Sadur, a retired congressional staffer who moved here from the Chicago area in 2018.
Still, Democrats interviewed here expressed reservations about Biden, primarily around his age.
“I’m pro-Joe Biden, but I’d be less than honest to say that age is not a concern,’ said Rick Hanney, 81, a retired firefighter and paramedic who was finishing his breakfast on a cloudy morning in Sturgeon Bay.
Charles Franklin, a professor of law and public policy at Marquette who directs the poll there, said about 20 percent of Wisconsin voters dislike both Biden and Trump — and how they vote in 2024 “is a big deal.”
Jim McCarthy, a roofing contractor who considers himself an independent voter, is one of those. He believes Trump tried to overturn American democracy after the 2020 election, and cannot fathom how anybody would vote for him. But he also took umbrage at Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt, and he is distrustful of his son Hunter, whose drug and business activities have been investigated by federal prosecutors.
“The only reason I would vote for Biden again,” McCarthy said, “is if Trump is getting in there.”
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Jess Bidgood can be reached at Jess.Bidgood@globe.com. Follow her @jessbidgood.