As President Donald Trump’s tariff plans sent actions to actions and economists warn about a broader economic slowdown, many of Trump’s supporters say they support the movement as part of a broader vision for the US economy, even if prices increase.
But a portion of 2024 Voters of Trump is deeply worried, which illustrates the real potential political danger for the president and his party.
In interviews, 20 Swing-State Trump voters who participated in the National NBC news survey last month talked about Trump and his tariffs after the president’s policy announcement last week. The majority are totally agreed with Trump’s vision, and many explicitly say that they are willing to live a short -term economic pain if that means achieving their vision of reorder the global economy to the benefit of the United States, or are cautiously optimistic that tariffs will be effective negotiation tools.
Veronica Rogers, a retiree in Georgia, was one of those who said that Trump’s long -term objectives to recover jobs to the United States overcome their concerns about the highest temporary prices.
“Whether that was short term, or that it was in the long term, I do not know. I am not an economist. But I do know that there are billions and billion dollars that can be spent here to build the industry to avoid paying tariffs. So, that sounds good to me,” he said. He was surprised that some people were surprised by the scale of Trump’s tariffs, pointing out how often tariffs were talking while campaigning.
“Nothing they are doing are news for the people who voted for him,” said Rogers, 63.
Even so, a handful of voters, including those who supported Trump in 2020 and 2024, warned that their launch of rates threatens to waste one of their main campaign promises: reduce prices for long -term Americans.
The NBC News survey conducted in March, before Trump completely presented his rate plans, discovered that most Americans (55%) disapproved of their inflation management and the cost of living, while 54% disapproved of their management of the economy in general. The members of the Republican party were much more likely to give Trump the qualifications of the economy than the independents and the Democrats, but approximately 1 out of 10 Republicans expressed their discontent with their handling of the key problems.
“The track on which it is now is only to urinate the Democrats, and I think it is working, but no, I am not very happy with the way things go at this time. It really has left the wall,” said Cathy Phillips, a 64 -year -old Pennsylvanian who voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024.
“We are scraping cents together, I know how difficult it is for us,” he continued. “I can’t imagine how difficult it is for older people who are even greater than us. Something has to give somewhere.”
Trust in Trump
However, for many of these voters, Trump’s decision to put strong tariffs on some of the largest commercial partners in the United States, such as the European Union, China and Vietnam, as well as most other countries, is exactly what they registered.
“I feel that everything I voted has already been completed and more,” said Melanie Renaud, a 52 -year -old dental hygienist from North Carolina.
Some point to the local factories that closed and transferred jobs abroad, leaving behind the falling communities, to argue drastic steps to bring jobs back to the United States that believe that some of the tariff rates are a tactic of negotiation of hard edges aimed at mandatory countries to make immediate concessions that will help the US economy in the long term. Others said it is a necessary response to an economy that they believe was not working for them.
“This commercial war has to happen so that fair trade occurs. And once fair trade is carried out, I think prices will even retire,” said Reece Westfall, a 30 -year -old Republican of Pennsylvania.
“There is much more in this than the price of everything,” Westfall continued, echoing recent arguments of Trump administration officials, including Treasure Secretary, Scott Besent, in “Meet The Press” of NBC News.
Donna J., 55, who refused to give her last name, said that although her part of North Carolina had a long history of textile mills like her grandfather worked, the city “basically folded on itself” once that factory closed.
“Sometimes what you get used to is what will kill you,” he said about how the globalized economy has harmed communities like yours. She said Americans need “to learn some patience and understand that this is for the improvement of all,” calling tariffs an example of “promises made of Trump, the promises maintained.”
Some criticize Trump’s movements
But other voters who supported Trump criticized the president’s approach. David, a Wisconsin man who voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, said the administration is “throwing spaghetti into the wall to see what stays.” (Like some others who criticized Trump, he refused to share his last name due to concerns about compensation or harassment).
“I cannot see a reasonable entrepreneur in the short term looking at this and say: ‘I am sure I can invest millions of dollars in a new production installation and create new jobs in the United States,” he said, and then added: “I expected a more reasoned and logical deployment.”
David said he voted for Trump due to the economy, believing that a continuation of the Biden administration policies if Kamala Harris had won the elections would not have been good for the country.
But despite his hesitation about Trump’s economic policies, David said he would still vote for him if he was given the opportunity to turn a turnover, even if it was less of complete support.
“I would like to think that there would be a better option in the future,” he added.
Another Trump voter, who refused to give his name or last name due to worries about harassment or reprisals, said he now sees his vote for Trump as a “big mistake.” The 64 -year -old Arizona man said that his retirement savings have fallen by 35% in recent weeks, and now he may have to delay his retirement.
“It has happened without any reasonable explanation,” he said “I don’t understand. I don’t understand how to declare a commercial war against the world, how to betray the allies, I can’t understand it.”
See a possible output strategy
Many of Trump voters who talked to NBC News said they did not believe that high rates would last, instead of predicting that they would force other countries to the negotiating table.
“I would not be surprised if, in the next month or two, we see that many of these countries make bilateral negotiations,” said John, 30 years old from Arizona who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2024, but supported Joe Biden in 2020.
“Part of these extremely high rates are designed, in a sense, in my belief, as a way to obtain more of these countries,” he continued.
Ultimately, some of Trump’s most burning supporters said they would personally be willing to take their packages now, both in terms of increasing potential prices and an unstable stock market, if that meant that the president’s plans to reorient the global economy are successful, because they believe that it will leave a better future for their children.
“I’m willing not to look at my [401k] daily numbers. I am willing to trust President Trump to change, “said Jodi L., a 62 -year -old girl from Michigan.” I have to do my part. I can call and complain everything I want, but I think it’s on the right path to change this country. I believe in him and what he said he would do because he has demonstrated in less than 100 days. ”
“I am willing to take the blow if that is what is needed in the long term.”
Sherry Behr, a 67 -year -old Republican of Pennsylvania, said: “I trust President Trump, which in six months, a year, we will begin to see a difference.”
Most Trump voters said they could not imagine a scenario that made them take their support. But some noticed that there could be a financial rupture point depending on how high prices and for how long.
“If it costs $ 100 for a couple of shoes, for stupid shoes, then we will have problems then,” said Nyssa, a mother who stays at 33 -year -old house in Pennsylvania, who said he supported Trump in the hope that he will reduce the prices of supermarkets. “But a couple of dollars here and there will not harm anything.”
And for a few, the tariff debate has shown that Trump is not fulfilling a key promise, either due to a lack of perceived attention or impulse to prioritize revenge on the solutions.
David, Wisconsin’s man, said Trump specifically criticized the Biden administration for high prices during the 2024 campaign.
“And then, shortly after arriving at office, suddenly the melody changes, and it is like, ‘well, let’s see that some prices go up,” he said.
Chelsea Linares, a 33 -year -old insurance account manager in Georgia, told NBC News that Trump’s work in the economy has been a “slower beginning than I would say that myself and others have anticipated,” noting that prices are still high. While it is still “optimistic”, he believes that “he will get worse before he improves.”
“Even people who support Trump will probably be more angry than they thought,” he said, added that he still supported him.
Blake, a three -time voter from Trump in Arizona who is 30 years old, described himself as someone in “complete ideological agreement” with the president on many issues. He said he would have marked Trump a 10/10 for the efforts of his administration in his first days on issues that include immigration and end of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
But he spent the launch of the tariff as “lazy”, adding that the impulse could waste the total control of Washington that the voters gave to the Republicans after the 2024 elections.
“I could be wrong, but I feel that the way they went out with the cannon ball that came out is to maximize pain without necessarily optimizing the speed we recover from it,” he said.
