Opinion | Haley, DeSantis, Christie: 11 Trump Voters Discuss – The New York Times

There may still be a contest for the Republican presidential nomination underway — the Iowa caucuses aren’t until Jan. 15 — but to say it is Donald Trump’s to lose is an understatement. For many if not most Republican primary voters, Mr. Trump is the equivalent of an incumbent president (and to some, he still is president). Incumbents generally get renominated with ease. But are there ways for another candidate to give him a real race?
For our focus group with 11 Republican primary voters, we wanted to hear from people who are leaning toward Mr. Trump but who said they were open to voting for another candidate. We wanted to try to better understand the former president’s strengths in this race and where he might be vulnerable. Several members of the group had positive things to say about Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and some of the other candidates. But the group was most revealing about how, even as they were somewhat ambivalent about aspects of Mr. Trump’s conduct and record, there was a deep bond with him and with his style of leadership. These Republicans are drawn to the idea of disruptive leaders who shake up the system (a couple of them quite liked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), and several of them favored following gut instinct and upsetting people from time to time as leadership traits.
So far, the other Republican candidates for president aren’t breaking through. They’re failing to give these voters reasons to pass on Mr. Trump’s candidacy. The other candidates’ collective strategy thus far of taking some swipes at Mr. Trump while making cases for themselves hasn’t been enough against a recent former president. And how do you attack and beat Mr. Trump when so few Republicans — including these 11 — want to see Mr. Trump attacked? The group made some suggestions for how to appeal to them and called out dimensions of Mr. Trump that they don’t like. Most of all, it came down to appealing to voters’ heads over their hearts: making a powerful, memorable, sustained case for why it was time to move on from Mr. Trump, a man they still have great affection for.
Is there anything that makes you feel optimistic about the country these days? It doesn’t have to be political.
Work is going great for me. I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. In terms of political things, most of what comes to my mind is pretty pessimistic.
I feel optimistic about my family. But in general, we’re kind of going through some scary times, with all the things going on in the news and people’s reactions and people’s agendas.
What worries you most about the country?
I have small children. So I’m concerned about gun violence and school shootings.
Yeah, I’m worried about increased violence and a greater sense of scarcity. You’re working more, but less money is coming in.
Just the cost of everything. I don’t know how people with young kids feed their families.
The cost of living is not consistent with wages anymore. It changes the way we shop. It changes the extra things that we might do, the vacations that we were thinking about planning.
There’s no money coming in to the average American, while companies are making record profits.
It’s hard to get a true story from any source. And I think the few are leading the masses with their intentions at hand and not ours.
I’m worried about the cost of living and about immigration.
Has that affected you personally, immigration?
Yes and no. I live close to New York City, and I’m extremely hesitant to go there because of what’s occurring in the city.
What’s one word you’d use to describe how you feel about the coming presidential election?
Concerned.
What crap’s going to get pulled between now and then?
Disgusted.
Uncertain.
Nervous.
Saddened.
Unsure.
Nightmare.
Interesting.
Fearful.
Clark, you said “saddened.” Why?
I was in school during the 2016 election. Ever since then, the choices have been awful. It’s a sad point that we’ve come to in American politics when there are no good choices.
Erin, you said “nervous.”
Will I make the right choice? You just don’t know who to trust.
Joanna, you said “unsure.”
How will it turn out once I vote for either candidate? What’s going to come afterward?
Carol, what makes you fearful?
There seems to be so much dissent. I’m concerned about hidden agendas, and I believe there’s a lot of corruption in the country. And I don’t know how that’s going to play out in the elections.
It’s entertaining to me. It all feels like a big TV show. Is somebody going to do something to get Trump indicted again? Or what’s going on with Joe Biden and his son and all of this? What’s going to happen next?
Cristian, I think you said “nightmare.”
Career politicians have created a dystopian world, and it doesn’t matter who we vote for — left, right, middle. We’re dividing ourselves amongst people fighting over small things while they’re getting richer. They get more powerful, and that’s the nightmare.
Ansari, tell me why you said “safer.”
I’m from Chicago. In 2016 there was a lot more violence going on.
Speaking from my perspective, they’re protecting the criminals more than the common citizen. I don’t see huge violence, but I do see theft. Cars being stolen, catalytic converters being stolen.
Has that impacted you or your family personally?
Me, personally, no. But I almost feel like it’s a matter of time.
What do you think could make America safer?
We have to start at the lowest common denominator, education. Children need to be held accountable. They need to learn responsibility, be liable for what they do. A lot of children are growing up with no consequences. They can do whatever they want. We need to get the children back into some sort of discipline program.
We’re raising kids that are much softer than we were, than our parents were. And that’s where it’s all kind of rooting from. I’m in between two places, San Francisco and Atlanta. In San Francisco you can’t leave anything in your car. In Georgia there’s theft all the time. I’ve witnessed theft at a store. My uncle’s car got stolen.
I think we’ve got laws on the books, and I think we need to enforce them. There need to be consequences to these actions.
For me, I’d say, rehabilitation. I live in New Hampshire, and opioid abuse is massive here. Instead of criminalizing people that own and/or buy and use drugs, there needs to be a better way to rehabilitate them. And that goes the same with criminals in general.
With the situation between Israel and Gaza, does it make you feel personally less safe or think about the world as a more dangerous place?
I have a son in the military. He’s actually overseas right now. I’m scared to death that he’s going to have to go in and get people out.
I’m concerned because it feels like the mob is ruling all over. And I’m concerned that people don’t understand what has happened in history and how that relates to how we go about trying to do an election or civics, how our government operates.
The war in Ukraine is now almost two years old. Do any of you feel that the situation in Ukraine and with Russia makes you feel personally less safe?
I mean, so I am from a former part of Russia, and I’m also Jewish. I’m very affected by everything that’s going on. I think we’re allowing all these wars in the world. And so it makes me feel very unsafe here. Because what’s to say that it’s not going to happen here?
I’m never really sure what the real story is with these wars. Half of me thinks it’s a distraction from what’s really going on. I think there’s likely some very nefarious things going on behind the scenes.
I know everyone felt like he was crass and brazen in his speech and speaking, but I felt a whole lot safer with our past president.
Do others feel the same way?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Susan, do you want to speak to that?
I totally agree with Amy. Even though I didn’t care for Trump’s approach, I felt as though he cared about the well-being of our country. Every politician is self-serving. I think he had his self-serving purposes, but he really cared about what was going on. Now I don’t feel that at all.
Is there anybody else besides Trump who you think, “If they were in charge, I might feel safer”?
DeSantis or maybe — oh, I’m going to butcher his name — Vaswani?
Ramaswamy.
Yeah. I would say DeSantis would be one of the top ones. Because I feel like he wants to fix the problems, the criminal stuff and things like that. I feel like he’d be a lot tougher than others.
We’ve talked a lot about foreign policy and security. I want to talk a little bit about the economy. And I want to do this as another show of hands real quick.
I think the economy, health care, all of those things — excuse me — kind of speak for themselves. They weren’t great at the end of Obama’s presidency, but they’re 10 times worse now.
Cristian, why was the progress that you might think Trump made undone under Biden?
The problem is the executive overreach and the executive documents and orders Biden signed straight off the bat. He made it his personal agenda to undo everything without thinking of the consequences. And now we’re living the consequences. I’m not saying everything he did was wrong. I’m just saying he should have thought this through better.
What are the qualities you think would make a good president of the United States?
Honesty.
Transparency.
Integrity and the confidence to talk without a teleprompter in your ear.
I like the business skills, but that’s got to be coupled with following the Constitution and getting back to constitutional law.
Honesty.
Churchill.
Fearful.
Integrity.
Strong decision maker.
Someone who listens to the people.
Honesty and boldness. They have to make decisions that are right for the country but that may not be favorable decisions.
Jeff, tell me about “fearful.”
There was a lot of negative stuff about Trump. But the one thing I think he did in dealing internationally is they thought he was a crazy man. And they were kind of afraid that he was actually going to do something, rather than to provide lip service and do nothing.
I said “honesty.” I want somebody to tell us like it is, not sugarcoat things, not hide things, just come out and just say it.
I want to feel confident that there’s not backdoor deals going on that are lining their personal pockets and their child’s pockets.
So in this specific race, the Republican primaries, what are you looking for most in a candidate as you decide who to vote for?
I think having a president who’s not 100 years old is also something to look for. Someone who’s not going to die while they’re the incumbent.
Honestly, I just wish Robert F. Kennedy would be a Republican nominee. He’s running as an independent. But he sounds Republican at heart.
So you all voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican primaries and in 2020. We’ve talked a little bit about the things that you missed about Donald Trump’s time as president. I want to ask the flip side. Is there anything that you don’t really miss about that time?
The circus. He’s a circus clown. He does get things done. But the annoyance of mass media and social media and all of that is extremely annoying.
Yeah. I agree. But it’s also all the people that just want to try and find anything they can to make him look bad. It’s just tiring.
He was overscrutinized. They scrutinized him in a fashion that no other political figure in the United States had yet been through.
I think they’re afraid that he’s going to come back in and clean this up.
I don’t miss his ego.
Tell me what you mean by that.
“I did this, and I’m wonderful at this, and look at me.” I don’t miss that. He always said everything is wonderful and everything is beautiful and everything is amazing. Come on.
You’re all here because you are leaning toward voting for Donald Trump in the Republican primaries. But you’re only leaning toward him. You also said you were open to potentially considering other candidates. So I want to ask you to fill in a sentence: “I like Donald Trump, but ….” What would you say to fill in the end of that sentence?
I like Donald Trump, but he’s too old.
I like Donald Trump, but he comes with a lot of baggage.
I like Donald Trump, but he needs to pull back on the sophomoric rhetoric. He kind of sounds like an eighth grader, poking fun at people, etc.
I like Donald Trump, but he is just as corrupt as everyone else in his own way.
I like Donald Trump, but I’m worried that he might not get a fair shake with illegal voting mishaps.
He’s too old, he comes with a lot of baggage, and he’s very much out there.
What do you mean by “out there”?
He is more of an entertainer than he is a politician. Obama was a statesman. He looked like a president. And I think, in a lot of ways, Trump is the polar opposite of that.
Joanna, “I like Donald Trump, but …”?
He’s a little egotistical. I didn’t like that, the arrogance.
A few people commented on Trump’s age.
What’s making you lean toward Trump?
He started getting things done in a quick and expeditious fashion from the moment he hit the pavement as president. Within weeks, we were starting to see some change. Was it perfect? Maybe not perfect, but it was an improvement.
Because we’ve dealt with him before, we kind of know how he operates. With the other candidates, you’re just not sure what you’re going to get.
He unbalanced a system that’s very corrupt, and that’s one of the good things. He’s an unbalancing agent. That’s kind of one of the things that makes him so unique.
What would it take for you to shift from leaning toward Trump to leaning toward another candidate, to supporting another candidate?
What I’m looking for is someone who has the strength and the business background that Trump has. None of the other candidates, as I look through them, have the experience. But there are a few of them that have brought up things like the Constitution. And if I could see more of that, I’d certainly be open to them.
That’s a tough question. Like it was mentioned before, if R.F.K. Jr. was running as a Republican, I think that would be a strong case as to voting against Trump. But at this point, it’s kind of late as to what they can do.
What do you like about R.F.K. that Trump doesn’t quite have or is different?
I think they’re similar in some ways. I do think that he would also stir the pot in similar ways that Trump would.
Could you see voting for R.F.K. Jr. as an independent candidate next year?
I’d consider it.
I want to hear more about your thoughts on some of the other people that are running in the primaries now. Tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when I say each of these names. Let’s start with Vivek Ramaswamy. What comes to mind when you hear the name Vivek Ramaswamy?
Well spoken.
Well educated.
Cool.
Well spoken.
Presentable.
The next name on my list is Nikki Haley. What comes to mind when you think of Nikki Haley?
Outspoken.
Yeah, outspoken.
A fighter.
Doesn’t walk her talk.
Outspoken.
Doesn’t feel like a strong leader. I think she talks well, but I don’t get that strength that I get with some others.
Next on my list is Ron DeSantis.
Competent.
Good speaker.
Strong leader.
OK. What makes you think of him as a strong leader?
He comes off that way, like a strong person and tough and stuff like that, tough on crime and things.
The last name on my list is Tim Scott. What are some things that come to mind when you think of Tim Scott?
I don’t know him. So I don’t have an opinion.
He’s well spoken and comes off very positive.
Conservative.
I don’t find him trustworthy.
Why not, Amy?
He’s flip-flopped on a number of issues.
Jeff, you said something very positive about Tim Scott just now, but you’re still leaning more toward Donald Trump. If it came down to, say, Donald Trump and Tim Scott, why would you lean more toward Trump in that match-up?
Well, I think there’s a lot of policies on the far left that I disagree with, and I think it’s dragging down our country. And I think the far left is strongly opposed to him, and that’s why I’d vote for Trump.
So mostly because of who his enemies are.
No, because I think they’re more fearful of him.
Of the names I just read, is there anything that you can imagine them doing that would make you more interested in them or make you want to switch your vote or maybe, say, “You know what? I liked Donald Trump, but I’m ready to try this new person”?
It wouldn’t necessarily be switching my vote, but I would love to see Trump and Ron DeSantis work as a team and run together.
I’d want to see them debate Trump.
What would you want to hear them say in a debate with Trump?
Their ideas of how they would go about turning around this country, their thoughts on going about cleaning up this mess.
I have a related question: Is there anything that you think Donald Trump could do that would make you concerned or maybe reconsider your decision to pick him? Or is there something that could happen to him that would no longer make him your first choice?
Not unless one of the other individuals I talked about were really able to step their game up and bring that experience in. What I think would help Trump a lot is if people saw the real side of him — his compassion and his charity. He doesn’t ever talk about any of those things.
I would not want another Jan. 6 incident. Anything that would incite violence, I’m opposed to. He needs to do this through the law, the right way, not through violence.
With the other candidates, when they start doing the commercials where they each bad-mouth each other, that gets on my nerves and might prevent me from sticking with one or the other.
I guess if I really had a lot of questions about Trump’s V.P. candidate, there’s a chance that could throw me for a loop if I wasn’t feeling confident about their capacity to function as a strong person in that role.
I agree with what’s been said. Cristian and Amy made some great points. I don’t like when he makes things like a circus.
Donald Trump has drawn a lot of contrasts with other candidates. He’s had nicknames for people that he runs against. Can you think of any ways that he has kind of criticized the people he’s running against?
In general, he kind of acts like a child. And so I think if he showed his intelligent side, his business side, that would really benefit him. He does talk bad about other people, which I think is unprofessional in any job or manner.
Is it fair and right or at least legitimate for him to criticize the people he’s running against?
I don’t know that it’s fair and legitimate, but it seems like it’s the thing that everybody does, so to criticize just one person for that is kind of hard to do.
Thus far, have you heard of any of the other candidates for president criticize Trump?
I think I think they all criticize each other. Trump just calls people names, and that’s kind of the way he fights. And I’d like him to back off of that. But they all criticize each other.
I think criticism of any form is healthy for a conversation or a debate. It’s OK for somebody to criticize, as long as nobody is being disrespectful or calling people names.
There was a debate where one of the candidates said he was going to call Trump Donald Duck. So there was the name calling going, and Trump wasn’t even in the building.
Right now, it seems Donald Trump is most likely to win the Republican nomination. What’s the most persuasive thing that somebody who’s not Donald Trump could do to win your vote? Or at this point are you pretty set on Trump?
We need somebody strong and bold. That’s why I’d vote for Trump.
I want someone to upset the balance of the parties, find the corruption and bring it out in the open. If you did that, you would get more votes from all aisles. It doesn’t matter if they’re left or right. If you start doing that, you’ll get all the votes, including mine.
I think I’m going to be voting Trump in the primary.
The advice I’d give would be to not let Trump bring you to his level if he’s name calling.
Here’s a final question.
What gives you that confidence?
People are fed up.
Yeah, I agree. We need a change.
I think people will want to change for the better because of the way things are going.
I believe it’s because every time they throw something at Trump, it doesn’t stick. People are so fed up with the corruption and the crime and the illegals coming across the border and wiping out our country. I think people feel that they’re losing their identity and they want to feel safe. And they want to get back to what we were really established for.
I think America craves feeling comfortable with their leadership and that our leadership is confidently looking out for our best interests.
Anna, why didn’t you raise your hand on that one? Why aren’t you confident a Republican will win?
Based on dinner conversations with friends, not everybody thinks like I do or some other people in this group. Some people are just die-hard Democrats. A lot of people don’t like Trump. And if he is the nominee, they’ll just vote for whoever is not him.
Because they’re Democrats, they won’t vote for Trump. They’re just very hung up on that political affiliation rather than maybe the best candidate.
I think there’s a lot of stunts that may be pulled between now and then. I mean, there was a laptop that was misinformation that everybody said wasn’t real. And then it came to be real. Places like Twitter and Google and Microsoft shaping the message — there was talk about how they’ve censored conservative opinions. A lot of people aren’t following politics like some of us here are. And so they’re listening to whatever that the media is throwing at them. That’s why I’m skeptical.
And Clark, how about you? Why didn’t you raise your hand?
A lot of friends vote for social reasons more so than economic issues. They just simply won’t ever agree with a Republican because of the social issues.
Which social issues?
Abortion or other things like that.
The biggest divider is there are people who want to ask questions and get more information. And then there are people who ridicule people who ask questions. Maybe it’s critical-thinking skills and things that we’ve lost in our country that they just accept what it is they’re told. I think we as a country don’t ask those kinds of questions as readily as people did years ago.
America in Focus seeks to hear and understand the views of cross-sections of Americans whose voices are often not heard in opinion journalism.
This discussion was moderated by a focus group veteran, Kristen Soltis Anderson, and the New York Times deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy. Ms. Soltis Anderson has done similar work over the years for Republican candidates and partisan groups. She chose the participants. (Times Opinion paid her for the work.) This transcript has been edited for length and clarity; an audio recording of the session is also included. Participants provided their biographical details. As is customary in focus groups, our role as moderators was not to argue with or fact-check the speakers, and some participants expressed opinions not rooted in facts.

Illustrations by Lucinda Rogers.
Advertisement

source