There are two areas of bipartisan agreement about President Donald Trump’s early days back in the White House: voters say he is moving quickly to keep promises and he is far more active and visible than his predecessor.
There is, though, a giant divide over whether that is fantastic or frightening.
“Trump is being bold and thinking big,” is the early headline from Betsy Sarcone, a Republican voter from suburban Des Moines. “How refreshing it is to have someone who says what they mean and can coherently answer questions.”
Democratic organizer Davette Baker of Milwaukee is on the other side of America’s Trump divide.
“This man is unhinged,” Baker said as Trump’s first week back in the White House unfolded. “The ‘law and order’ president isn’t holding up law and order. … And the immigration issue has everyone scared.” Linda Rooney represents a middle ground of sorts, if there is such a thing when it comes to Trump.
“On the one hand, I am glad he is cleaning up the mess Biden left, both domestically and foreign,” said Rooney, who runs a consulting business in the Philadelphia suburb of Media. “But I wish he would use more discernment. Not all of the January 6 people should have been pardoned. It was an attack on our democracy and on our elected leadership.”
Rooney, Baker and Sarcone are among the nearly 100 voters who were part of our “All Over The Map” project, an effort to track the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters who live in swing states or are part of critical voting constituencies. Now, as Trump gears up quickly, these voters will help us track public sentiment about the new administration, including whether the president is losing support among those who voted for him or perhaps gaining support from those who opposed him.
Our first check in suggests that their views during the campaign are largely holding, with some early markers to watch.
Rooney, for example, voted for Trump, then Biden, then Trump, and suburban voters like her will be critical in the 2028 midterms.
“I was optimistically hopeful after the election, but I feel he is like a bull in the china shop,” Rooney said in a text exchange. “Or that he’s using a sledgehammer where finer instruments are called for.”
Still, she is mostly in sync with Trump promises to cut taxes and reduce regulations.
Rooney was a Nikki Haley primary voter who settled on Trump in the end because she believed then-Vice President Kamala Harris was too liberal and not ready for the presidency.
Post a Comment