“There’s a lot of social media saying: Hey, are you Republicans or MAGA people regretting your vote? And no, I’m not,” one participant told us in Opinion’s latest conversation with voters in our America in Focus series.
Across the 90-minute discussion, that was the consensus: President Trump was, whether each participant liked all of it or not, doing what he had promised. For the first time in quite a while, real change was taking place in America. That excited a lot of these 13 independent voters who supported Mr. Trump last November. Even if they could, none would go back and change their vote.
But there were also real worries: Many were unhappy with Elon Musk’s expansive presence in the White House. Two people used the word “shocking” to describe the pace of change so far.
The focus group met on the evening of April 8, just hours before the “Liberation Day” tariffs were set to go into effect, and many participants expressed real uneasiness and concern about the tariffs, the prospect of prices increasing or a possible recession. Tariffs had already affected a few members of the group. One woman worried Mr. Trump wasn’t being attentive to working-class people’s needs.
His vow that short-term pain would mean long-term gain resonated with a number of these voters, who envisioned better jobs and a more even playing field on the other side of the tariffs. As one participant said, “I had my eyes open when I voted for Trump that it was going to hurt.” But what does short-term pain look like? That’s the question everyone, including the participants in this group, is trying to answer.
Fill in the blank for me: I feel “blank” about the way the country is going these days.
Bad.
Curious.
Pessimistic.
Hopeful.
Hopeless.
Frustrated.
Faithful.
Worried.
Confused.
Cautiously optimistic.
Hopeful.
I feel hopeful as well.
Lied to.
People who said “hopeful,” tell me why.
I think a lot of changes have been happening the last few months. But I’m hoping that they are happening for the greater good. I’m optimistic.
What have you seen that’s made you feel hopeful?
I see action. For a good amount of years, we didn’t see anything. We didn’t know what was going on. And now, even though I might not agree with everything, I at least see things happening, movement happening.
Do you have something specific in mind?
The whole thing with the tariffs. I work in finance. I think in the short term, it’s a shot in the foot. But I think in the long term, it may be a great thing for the country. So I’m hopeful that this will improve our economy and manufacturing.
I feel like there’s a plan that’s been implemented. I’m just trusting the process.
I may not like everything that Trump is doing. But I will say that he is following through on the things that he actually did say he was going to do and exactly what the people who voted for him wanted.
Cheryl, you said “hopeless.”
The tariffs are killing the lower-class people. And he’s going back and forth. Is he going to go ahead and do a 90-day stop on the tariffs? He’s not quite sure. We did not have much to choose from this election, with Kamala Harris and Trump. But look what he’s doing to — I, myself, am on Social Security disability. I have to work because of the grocery cost. My rent went up $200. I love where I live. I don’t want to change, and I don’t want to ever go homeless. He’s doing what he said he’s doing, but does he realize who he’s hurting right now? Is he going to do anything for the lower class, middle class?
Mike, you said “confused.” About what?
The tariffs that pretty much everybody agrees are going to raise the cost of goods and hurt the economy, but you say that you want to get the economy going. And then the back and forth with tariffs — tariffs, not tariffs. And then there’s the random blabber of: OK, Canada is going to be our 51st state, and we’re going to get Greenland if we have to use force. It just feels like you just never know which direction you’re supposed to be going.
Sid, you said, “lied to.”
I think we’re not only being lied to but we’re also being distracted by a lot of stuff. The tariff stuff, Greenland, Canada — that is confusing. I do agree with that. But I think it’s a distraction. I kind of feel like the Republicans and the Democrats in the upper-tier class of government are just having their own little private civil war without everybody.
Now, who’s doing the lying? When you say, “lied to,” who’s lying about what?
A majority of the Democrats are just doing a Hail Mary of lying about pretty much everything Trump’s doing, and the news has, too. I’ve seen Trump say and do and sign executive orders. I work the graveyard shift. So on YouTube, I’m watching this stuff live. They really started attacking him with the deportation stuff. And they said that he was caging people up and doing stuff like that. And they had live news coverage on that border, and nothing like that was happening. They were certainly deporting people. They really were. But they weren’t caging people up like they said that they were.
Rose, you said “frustrated.” Why?
Yes, because he did come through when he said that he was going to deport all the people that were here illegally. That I agree with, 100 percent. What I don’t agree with is the tariffs. I don’t think he’s going to be able to do what says. I don’t think he’s going to bring the prices down. If manufacturing does come back to this country, things are going to be more expensive to make, and that’s going to increase the prices.
I said “worried” because I’m worried that the tariffs are going to create a recession. A lot of things that Trump is doing, he’s doing great, like deporting all those people from Tren de Aragua. He’s doing what he promised that he was going to do.
Like I said before, I’m hopeful. He promised a lot of things, and he’s pushing and doing the things that he said he was going to do. There’s a lot of social media saying: Hey, are you Republicans or MAGA people regretting your vote? And no, I’m not. As far as I’m concerned, he’s not doing enough. He has to push more. He only has four years. He can’t come back.
I asked about the country, but what about for you personally?
Yeah, I’d say from a personal perspective, I’ve got a good anchor. So I don’t worry about much of anything in my life, to be honest with you. If I’m in the gutter, I’m in the gutter. If I’m up on the clouds, that’s fine, too. But I prefer to be somewhere in the middle because I don’t like to get too high or too low.
There’s just a lot of uneasiness right now, being in construction. The tariffs directly affect us with the price of steel and lumber. We get a lot of our lumber from Canada. We’ve noticed, since Trump has been on a whirlwind with stuff, people are just not wanting to spend money, not accepting our estimates. It directly affects us and our employees. It’s just a lot of stuff that’s keeping my husband and me up at night — for ourselves and people that work for us, too.