The swing voters who helped President-elect Donald Trump return to the White House are feeling optimistic about the next four years, but they’ll be watching to see whether their desire for change becomes a reality.
“I’m hoping that some change will come from this, at least a little bit. I hope some of the prices will go down,” said Reagan Spiegel, 19, a farmhand from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who voted for the first time in November.
“I’m tired of hearing about all these things that people want to do and then they don’t commit to actually doing them,” Spiegel added, optimistic Trump will be able to deliver on his agenda.
Spiegel is among the voters who helped propel Trump to victory in November, as he won over first-time voters and a decisive slice of others who had cast their ballots for Joe Biden in 2020. NBC News spoke this week to 18 of those voters who had participated in the final NBC News poll of the 2024 election.
As a group, they are largely willing to give Trump some leeway when it comes to fulfilling his major campaign promises, like bringing down prices of everyday goods like groceries. Many of them haven’t been closely following his Cabinet nominations or other actions during the transition, though some comments, like his discussion of annexing other countries’ territory, have broken through.
“I won on the border, and I won on groceries,” Trump said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last month, adding later, “We’re going to bring those prices way down.”
But Trump has also acknowledged that it will be difficult to do that, telling Time magazine after the election that it will be “very hard” to bring prices down. But the swing voters who supported him acknowledge that, too, and several said they would still support him even if prices don’t decline.
“I’m not expecting him to get the prices down,” said Rebecca, 48, an independent voter from Rhode Island. “I’m just expecting him to be fair.”
Rebecca voted for Trump after having backed Biden four years ago, noting that the economy, immigration and safety were her top issues. As a bartender, she was drawn to Trump’s pledge to eliminate taxes on tips, and she said she’s hopeful Trump can help boost wages even if he can’t lower prices.
Karley, 40, an Ohio voter who noted that she would still support Trump even if prices don’t decline, said, “He can only do so much.” She backed Trump in November but didn’t vote in 2020, missing the deadline to cast a mail ballot as she juggled a newborn.
Melanie Phillips, 56, a software engineer from Utah who voted for the first time in November, said, “I do understand that it isn’t something that can happen overnight.”
Phillips believed the Biden administration was trying to stymie Trump’s anti-inflation efforts, pointing to the recent announcement that the White House would cancel federal student loan debt for more than 150,000 borrowers.
But others are looking for Trump to follow through on his promise to address inflation. Jorge, 21, an independent Florida voter who supported Trump in his first presidential election, said failure to bring down prices would be “a disappointment, to say the least.”
“It would be the same as Democrats who overpromised, underdelivered,” Jorge said.
‘We needed something to happen’
These voters said they ultimately backed Trump after they concluded that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party were out of touch and not focused on the issues that mattered to them, like high prices and their personal financial struggles, border security and public safety.
“We were treading water over here. … You can only tread so long before you feel like you’re sinking. And Biden didn’t prove to do anything, anything, nothing. It was just a stagnant time,” said Rebecca, the Rhode Island bartender, who declined to share her last name.
“We needed something to happen,” she said later.
Mariana, 21, a Hispanic woman from Texas, said she was initially “scared” of Trump’s tough stance on immigration when he first ran for office in 2016. But she said she “partially” supports his plans for mass deportations.
“I feel like those immigrants that pay their taxes and they contribute in a good way to our country, they shouldn’t be deported,” Mariana said. “I just feel like it should be all the people that [are] taking advantage, committing crimes.”
Scott, a computer programmer from Missouri, said “real people” are “angry” about the state of the country.
“None of the politicians seem to be angry in that way, but Trump was,” said Scott, a Hispanic gay man and former Democrat. He said he no longer felt heard by his former party, suggesting Democrats focused too much on social issues like diversity.
In other words, voters like Scott are looking for Trump to shake up Washington.
“On all levels, government has been so bogged down by ‘we can’t do this, we can’t do that.’ Trump says: ‘Hey I don’t care. I really don’t care what norms or institutions are going to say,’” Scott said, adding later, “It seems like that’s the only option at this point, because the respect for the guidelines has stopped them from doing anything.”
Some voters are confident Trump can follow through on his promises, pointing to his business experience and first term in office as evidence that he can repair the economy.
“As far as I know, he hasn’t held a lot of political offices, but he’s a good businessman,” said Janice Dunn, 83, a Trump voter from New Bern, North Carolina. “You need a good business head when you’re dealing with all of this.”
Dunn, a registered Democrat who considers herself a Republican, said that she didn’t vote in 2016 or 2020 because of mobility issues but that she would have voted for Trump if she had the chance. While she doesn’t think of either Trump or Harris as “good people,” she said, she’s hopeful Trump will make headway on key issues like the economy and immigration.
Others are just looking for Trump to try something to address their concerns about the economy, border security and public safety, even if he doesn’t succeed.
“I can’t say I’m particularly expecting him to do something,” said Ray, an Asian man in his mid-30s from New York who voted for Biden in 2020. “But what I think he does do, whether it’s kind of true or not, is he at least makes an effort to reach out to those people, people like me, and he is kind of saying that, yeah, I’ll listen to you.”
Honeymoon period
Many of these voters are ready to give Trump some leeway, not just with his campaign trail promises but also as he grabs headlines on other issues, like his recent comments about taking over Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada.
A few swing voters were perplexed by his annexation comments, and some said he shouldn’t be focused on that. But most weren’t concerned about them, and some were even supportive.
“If we take care of them financially, why shouldn’t they be a part of us?” said Gonzell Turner, 40, an electrician from Maryland who backed Trump after having supported Biden in 2020.
Others dismissed the comments as Trump being Trump.
“I think Trump, as a person, he’ll say one thing today, and he’ll say the complete opposite tomorrow,” said Ray, from New York. “It really just matters what he ends up acting on.”
Jordan, 28, a California voter, said, “I don’t think his main priority is going to be: We’re taking Canada or Greenland.” She said that she is “not a big Trump supporter” but that she backed him because of her concerns about border security and because she viewed the Democratic Party as inauthentic.
These voters were also largely unaware of Trump’s Cabinet picks or indifferent about them, with some saying Trump should be able to pick his own team.
“Let him make his decisions with that,” said Rebecca, the Rhode Island voter, who described Cabinet picks as “inside stuff.”
The deference to Trump over his Cabinet and the leeway when it comes to fulfilling his campaign promises underscore how Trump, like other incoming presidents, is kicking off his next administration with a honeymoon period of sorts with these swing voters.
But they could still be up for grabs in four years, although Democrats have some work to do to win them over.
Javan Potts, 23, an Amazon driver from Ohio, said he is still open to supporting Democratic candidates. Potts voted for Trump and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his re-election bid.
“Be real, be honest,” Potts advised Democrats. “Really, don’t just choose what’s trendy and what you think people want to emotionally tie to but what people in reality need.”
