They Voted For Trump In 2016. Will They Do It Again In 2020?
We’re talking to voters who cast their ballots for Donald Trump in 2016. Four years later, they explain the issues they care about, what they think of the job President Trump has done, and how they’ll vote this time around.
Guests
Cheryl Johnson, farmer. Voted for Trump in 2016; undecided in 2020.
Matt Powell, marine veteran and car salesman. Voted for Trump in 2016; voting for Trump in 2020.
Tommy Stallings, real estate agent and gym owner. Voted for Trump in 2016; voting for Biden in 2020.
In 2016, Leslie Rossi turned an old house she owned in western Pennsylvania into a tourist attraction for Trump supporters. This year, fans of the president are flocking back. She calls it the “Trump House,” and On Point producer Dorey Scheimer took a tour.
From The Reading List
The New York Times: “Meet the Supporters Trump Has Lost” — “For some, the disenchantment started almost as soon as Donald J. Trump took office. For others, his handling of the coronavirus and social unrest turned them away. For all of them, it’s highly unlikely they will vote for him again. These voters, who backed Mr. Trump in 2016 but say there’s ‘not really any chance’ they will this year, represent just 2 percent of all registered voters in the six states most likely to decide the presidency, according to New York Times/Siena College polls. But they help explain why the president faces a significant deficit nationwide and in the battleground states.”
The Los Angeles Times: “Is an army of secret Trump voters skewing the polls toward Biden?” — “As Joe Biden’s lead in the polls continues to expand, both nationally and in battleground states, a new explanation for his surge is taking hold, especially among President Trump’s staunchest supporters. The theory holds that there is a large reserve army of secret Trump voters who are afraid, in this time of cancel culture, to state their preference, and that’s why the polls are so lopsided.”
CBS News: “Will reluctant Trump supporters stick with him in 2016?” — “While most of President Trump’s 2016 supporters were Republican base voters, for some, the decision to back him in 2016 came in the quiet of a voting booth or as the credits rolled on the final presidential debate. To win again, he must hang onto his previous supporters, including reluctant ones, and win over some who are undecided — all amid nationwide calls for racial justice and a global pandemic that has the U.S. economy reeling.”
The New York Times: “Trump’s Fights Are Their Fights. They Have His Back Unapologetically.” — “DiAnna Schenkel is a law school graduate who once ran on the Democratic ticket for her city council. She voted twice for Barack Obama. A 59-year-old suburbanite in North Carolina, she worries about her Black son-in-law being racially profiled by the police, pulled over and beaten or worse. The portrait of a Biden voter? No, Ms. Schenkel, who is white, is a confirmed supporter of Donald J. Trump. She voted for him enthusiastically four years ago after becoming disillusioned with the Obama presidency, and plans to vote for his re-election.”
Newsweek: “Undecided Voters Were Key to Trump’s Win in 2016. Will They Deliver Again?” — “As stark as the differences are between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, millions of Americans can’t seem to choose between them. They’re the 10 percent of prospective voters who, with less than three months to go until the election, are still technically ‘undecided:’ They haven’t made up their minds between the Republican and Democratic nominees, currently back third-party candidates or, at this point, just don’t care. Analysts say there are fewer undecideds this year than in 2016, when a surge of last-minute converts to Trump among them helped decide the election. But it’s still a sizable enough cohort — particularly in key battleground states — to potentially determine the 2020 result.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
