In back-to-back debates just miles apart, Democrats and Republicans painted a dark vision of America, a place where jobs are vanishing, leaders are corrupt and threats loom from across the globe.
Gloomy assessments of the country's future have emerged as a constant refrain of the 2016 presidential contest, as candidates woo a frustrated and anxious electorate.
Katherine Cramer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, has been conducting extended conversations about voter attitudes with people in her politically competitive state since 2007.
Democrats — and even some Republicans — believe voters will demand positive messages of renewal once the campaign enters the general election.
"At some point you'll have to say 'here's how I'll take the nation forward, not just make this a wrestling mud match'," said Republican pollster Ed Goeas, who's working on efforts to defeat Trump.
While a booming stock market and low interest rates helped the wealthiest sliver of the country, many Americans have yet to recover the ground lost in the recession.
Democrats decry greedy Wall Street traders and lead-poisoned water, lax gun laws and a failed criminal justice system.
At Democratic debates in Miami and Flint this week, Clinton fended off questions from immigrant families separated for years by deportation and parents worried about lead-poisoned water and mass shootings.
