BRISTOL, Pa. (AP) — This week’s presidential debate was the latest affront to Rosie Torres’ lifelong Republicanism. She said her loyalty to Donald Trump, already strained by his stance on abortion, was torn by the former president’s “eye-opener.” encounter with Kamala Harris.

It is time to “put country before party,” Torres, 60, said Wednesday in Bristol, a riverside town in a Philadelphia suburb. Trump left her disappointed after his recent appearance at Arlington National Cemetery when a member of his staff pushed a cemetery officialshe said.

“I was still willing to vote for Donald Trump,” Torres said. “But you know, I think what he did at the veterans cemetery was very disrespectful. I feel like our country is being disrespected.”

In Bucks County, a key area in a key swing state, the debate is leading to a lot of intense thinking about what should happen in November. Millions of Americans elsewhere have already made up their minds, but in purple Pennsylvania, many voting decisions are still up in the air.

In interviews in Bristol and Langhorne, another longtime Republican appeared intrigued by the debate but not yet convinced by Harris; a young first-time voter is betting on Trump; and a Democrat is still trying to get the image of people eating pets out of his head after Trump took a “moronic” stance on the issue Tuesday night.

A closer look at the thoughts of voters in a key part of the country after what may be the only presidential debate:

She is still shopping

There’s Mary Nolan, 70, of Bensalem, a registered Republican for 50 years who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Trump in 2020. After a debate in which Harris both impressed and frustrated her, she has more to think about.

“I was not happy with Biden-Trump,” she said of the options before President Joe Biden leave his re-election campaign. “I didn’t feel like we had a good choice. And I’m still not sure we did. Maybe. But I still want to know more about Kamala Harris.”

She said she and her husband, who is registered as a Democrat, split their party affiliations so they could have a say in the primary as a family. Immigration, the economy (she said she just paid $6 for a pound of butter) and the Infrastructure bill that Biden signed were their main topics.

“I like that Kamala Harris says I’m going to be the president for everyone,” Nolan said. “I don’t think our politicians say that very often.”

She expects to make her voting decision by the end of October, just a few days before the election. In the meantime, she is intensively gathering information.

“I take different opinions from all over the place. I don’t write blogs. It’s just news. Different interest groups like AARP.”

Your political ideology? “I think the world is changing rapidly, and I still hold on to my 1960 values,” Nolan said.

Which values?

“Family, home, morals. You know, our kids don’t have the upbringing that you or I had because the streets are different today. I think if someone said, you know, this is what I’m going to do to make life better in the United States, I would definitely vote for them.”

She said she thought Harris had a good debate but avoided some issues.

“I didn’t like her avoidance of questions. She would talk around the issue when asked direct questions about abortion. One of them was about abortion. Another was about immigration. And a couple of them said, ‘Hey, you’ve been here three and a half years, but you haven’t done the things you think are so important. Why not?’ She would jump into her talking points and never give a direct answer.”

But Harris made a good impression on them. Trump did not.

“I think Kamala Harris definitely presented herself very well yesterday. She is dignified. … She would be a good representative of our country.”

Trump? “I like his policies. I just want a more stable, more dignified president.” She wants “someone who doesn’t yell and scream and insult people.”

This Democrat witnessed history being made

Terry Culleton, 68, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a retired high school English teacher, was reading “Autocracy, Inc.” by Anne Applebaum in a cafe Wednesday morning. His commitment to labor and later to civil rights and human rights made him a Democrat.

In his opinion, Harris stood up to Trump and explained her plans well.

What really stuck in his mind, however, were Trump’s false comments about immigrants in Ohio eating pets.

“It’s so stupid to say something like that and repeat it. I just can’t get it out of my head that someone would go on national television and say that,” he said.

He said he got a sense of history while watching last night’s debate.

“I think it’s about democracy versus something approaching totalitarianism. I think it’s about supporting democratic governments as opposed to supporting the kind of governments that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is trying to export and that Trump, as far as I can tell, has no problem with.”

Inflation led them to Trump

Kelli Surline of Langhorne was at a coffee shop with her fiancé and young daughter, who was wearing a Kelly green Eagles T-shirt. She described herself as politically uninterested until she became concerned about higher prices. She didn’t watch the debate, in part because she has made up her mind.

“I’m 28 years old and I’ve never seen the country this bad,” she said. “That’s why I decided to register to vote, and I’m definitely going to vote for Trump.”

She talked about how difficult it was to move forward.

“We wanted to find a place to live together,” said Surline, pointing to her fiancé Geoffrey Trush, 40. “We can’t afford it.” Instead, she lives with her mother. Unaffordable prices make it “a struggle every week.”

He was once a Democrat

Ron Soto, 86, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, is a longtime Trump supporter and retired semi-truck driver and Army veteran who left the Democratic Party in the 1990s and switched to the Republican Party after realizing he disagreed with the positions of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

He said he watched the debate on Tuesday with his hunting dog, Sam, by his side after watching the Phillies game.

For him, illegal immigration is a big issue and Harris could not convince him.

“The biggest problem is that I don’t like her and I don’t like Joe Biden.”

Soto said he served in the Army from 1955 to 1963 and asked, “What the hell did I put my head on the line for? Why? So you could give it away? The Democrats can open the gates, the floodgates, and tell the whole world. You’re welcome. Come in.” He added, “These people have ruined this country.”

She had enough of politics

Christine Desumma, 50, a former Trump voter and owner of a salon on Bristol’s picturesque shopping street, expressed frustration with both parties and said she will not vote at all in November. She said her taxes were lower when Trump was in office and recalled the painful COVID-19 closures.

She was fed up, especially with social media and Facebook. Online debates, she said, had driven a wedge into her own family and she washes her hands of any guilt.

“I just decided I’m not going to vote and I don’t want to hear about it,” she said. “Now I’m choosing not to look and not to pay attention.” She has found something else to do.

“I’m learning yoga,” she said. “I’ve found myself again.”