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In their own words: Trump supporters explain the hope they feel for his second presidency

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In their own words: Trump supporters explain the hope they feel for his second presidency

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For tens of millions of Americans, Donald Trump’s victory sparked a wave of excitement and hope, particularly when it comes to their wallets. Trump campaigned heavily on his plans to lower gas prices, slow inflation, reduce interest rates and make America affordable again, and won a resounding victory earlier this month.

Voters who opposed Trump worried that agenda would put economic concerns above human rights, access to health care and competent government.

But Trump voters we interviewed across the country said the economy is their single-biggest concern, and they’re eager for the president to reverse Biden-era policies they blame for post-pandemic price increases.

In USA TODAY fashion, we interviewed Trump supporters nationally to ask them how they expect their lives will improve during his second administration. We specifically sought interviews with Americans working in industries that Trump has highlighted, from tipped restaurant workers to real estate agents, car sales to small business owners.

Each interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Steelworker says Trump gave respect back to the working class

David Rose is a 43-year-old steelworker from Indian Head, Pennsylvania. He drives about an hour each way to his job at a U.S. Steel plant just outside of Pittsburgh.

Rose identified as an independent until 2016, when he registered as a Republican in order to vote for Trump in the primary. He later voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024. He and his fellow steelworkers met Trump at a rally in Latrobe shortly before the election, and he said Trump told them that removing taxes on their overtime pay could help them.

Rose works about 50 hours a week but has colleagues who work upward of 80.

He lives in the town where he grew up and has been married for eight years. In his spare time, he enjoys deer hunting and fishing. He and his wife try to take a few vacations a year, including weeklong cruise in the Caribbean. He drives a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck and listens to classic rock.

Q: What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration?

A: The most specific way I expect life to improve under Trump’s administration is the morale of the entire country especially working class has improved, we are no longer ignored.

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office to make your life better? The first thing I would like to see happen is mass deportations of illegals, and finish building the wall.

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office? Under Trump I expect my financial situation to improve with lower taxes and no tax on overtime which is a game-changer to working class people.

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office? My community has came together under the results of the election everyone is happy to see the woke agenda ending.

How do you expect the country will improve with him in office?

I expect the entire country to be safer, because he will improve our military and the USA to again take the lead on world stage by peace through strength of our leaders.

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?

Steelworkers lives improved under the 2016 Trump administration because he placed tarrifs on Chinese steel and saved the American steel industry.

– Erin Mansfield

Immigrant restaurant manager

Juan Felipe Paredes, 52, immigrated to the United States three decades ago. He lived and worked in Miami before moving eight years ago to the Florida panhandle, where he manages a restaurant in Pensacola.

For the past four years, Paredes says the U.S. economy has been “stuck” and he is ready for a change.

Folks aren’t going to restaurants like they used to, he said, and when they do, they’re paying with a credit card. Though Paredes says Barack Obama is his “favorite president of all time,” he has supported President Donald Trump in each of the past three elections. He believes Trump holds the key to jump-starting U.S. the economy.

What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration?

First, I am expecting the economy to start getting better. I am not an economist, but I am a person who wakes up early every day. I go to work, I work hard, I do what a U.S. citizen has to do, pays taxes. The economy is not moving. I am not going out as much as I used to. We can’t afford it. I don’t spend as much money as I used to because everything is way more expensive.

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office?

I think we have to secure the country, and the only way we can secure the country is securing the borders. I don’t mind people coming to the United States but you’ve got to do what others have to do: you have to do the process, what everybody else has got to do. It’s like everybody that is coming from all over the world and they are coming inside this country illegally. They are draining the country. The country is bleeding because of them.

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office?

The only way the interest rates can go down is when inflation comes down. I would like to do investments – rental properties. I haven’t bought anything in the last two years because the interest rates are at 7-8%. But I still think we are just so blessed to live here and sometimes we don’t even know how blessed we are living in this country. In Colombia the interest rate for a mortgage is 12-15%. We here are at 7-8%, and the economy stops. If people don’t buy houses, new construction stops. People that do windows, roofs, wood, flooring – one thing stops and everything stops.

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office?

If the economy improves, there are going to be jobs. In Pensacola there are no jobs. A few years ago, literally every single body was hiring. You could not even walk three blocks and you already have two jobs. But right now, it’s hard to find a job. If that construction economy starts moving, there will be jobs for everybody.

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?  

It seems contradicting now that I am voting for Donald Trump but one of my favorite presidents of all time is Barack Obama. I love him. I love the kind of person he is. Barack Obama was a good president not just for the United States but for the entire world. I think Donald Trump is a good president for the United States.

– Lauren Villagran

Oil and gas “landman” wants more drilling

For nearly 50 years, Wyoming resident Steve Degenfelder, 67, has helped oil companies across the West find land to lease for exploration and drilling. In his job as a “landman,” he’s seen the ups and downs of America’s petroleum industry, and he’s excited about a second Trump presidency, which he hopes will improve prosperity across Wyoming, where more than half of the state’s revenues come from taxing the oil, gas and coal extracted from the ground.

For people like Degenfelder, attacks on oil and gas are attacks on the way of life for an entire state and the people who call it home.

What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration?

I think low gas prices help the economy in Wyoming and across the country: low oil and gas prices mean reduced prices and transportation costs. Lower oil and gas prices really should stimulate the economy.

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office to make your life better?

I would like him, since I live in Wyoming, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to embrace his past initiative of energy dominance.

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office?

It might stay the same because if we achieve energy dominance and push that business strategy, that could lower oil and gas prices but help us increase our volumes.

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office?

If you have a predicable business environment, people are going to deploy capital and that’s going to have a tremendous impact on Wyoming. Many times, because the federal government controls the mineral estate… people in Wyoming feel the secretary of the Interior has more control than the governor of Wyoming himself.

How do you expect the country will improve with him in office?

This campaign made feel people proud of their country, and when you’re in a good mood, that makes everybody feel good. It’s not a miracle worker, but attitude is a lot when it comes to business investment.

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?

When Trump left office, there were less oil and gas leases out there than when President Obama left office. Most people think Trump’s last administration was a free-for-all and it was not. With the Biden administration, they came out of the inauguration and the DOI put a clampdown on everything, and that created a terrible situation because all of the oil and gas plays we were working on came to a complete halt. No one wants to invest in an unpredictable environment.

– Trevor Hughes

California Realtor hopes Trump can control the border

Although Trump had no chance of winning California, Jeanne Solnordal, chair of the Alameda County (Calif.) Republican Party, still thought Trump had a chance to become president. She was right. Solnordal said Trump was able to show slight gains in certain key areas across the traditionally Democratic state, including Santa Clara County (home to Silicon Valley) and Napa County (Wine Country).

A longtime real estate investor, Solnordal also said she strongly believes in Trump’s housing proposals which include building more homes, using federal land for more affordable housing, cutting often strict permit requirements, and lowering mortgage rates. She also wants more immigration control.  

What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration? 

I believe he will do a better job of controlling immigration. We need to get the border under control. I think there’s too much crime and, hopefully, he can get it under control and make the legalization process easier. If we can control the border, we can afford to let more people in legally. He also talked about unity. When I went to Milwaukee (for the Republican National Convention), the message was all about unity, and unless the Republicans and Democrats can’t come together it doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay a politician, what $200,000 and all they do sit around, fight each other and get nothing done. There’s so much we agree on, but there’s so much partisanship that prevents us from getting down to business.

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office to make your life better?

Please clamp down on the border. We need to stop the flow, we’ve got enough problems. I think our education system needs improvement. Hopefully, he can require states to do more to provide equal education for all students. We can’t expect our children to succeed without a proper education. 

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office?

More stability. We have so many people who live paycheck to paycheck and more homeless people who can’t afford a place to live, so hopefully we can create more affordable housing for all. I would like some sort of correction to our utility bills and insurance rates. I refer to my water bill as ‘liquid gold.’

Hopefully, he can find ways to reduce our taxes. It’s too bad we have to budget so closely.

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office?

 Yes, I hope we can have safer communities because one of his campaign promises was to give law enforcement what it needs to do their jobs. I live in Oakland and I hope he will provide federal assistance to help the police try to keep us safe. You don’t have to be partisan to want a safe city.  

 How do you expect the country will improve with him in office?

Hopefully, he can create some unity. The country needs it. I think he will control inflation and help protect our borders to make our country safer and concentrate more on our problems here in America.  

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?  

I liked Bill Clinton until he had his scandals, and I liked that he was trying to put people on welfare back to work, instead of just collecting a check. I hope Trump can do something similar with those who are homeless and able to work.  

– Terry Collins

Ex-coal miner turned car salesman thinks Trump is ‘here for us’

A third-generation coal miner, Rob Moore, 35, desperately made a career pivot after the mining slowed and his hours and pay dropped in rural Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, two years ago. To “keep food on the table,” the married father of four kids became a car salesman and says he’s “good at it.”

In May, Moore uprooted his family to be closer to relatives in “Coal Country” along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border. (Moore lives in Bobtown, Penn., an unincorporated coal town of about 800 residents.) However, he’s not back in the mines, but still selling cars. A first-time voter who “got my butt off the couch,” Moore’s hoping a second Trump presidency will lead to more prosperity at home. 

What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration?

President Trump is going to run the country like a business, that’s what we needed anyway. He’s a successful man. Yeah, he’s had his bumps in the road as president and in his life, but he ran this country and supported the blue-collar folks like me who make this country go. He’s for the oil rig workers and the coal miners. He’s here for us.

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office to make your life better? 

I want him to help make everybody’s life better, not just mine. That we have good health care and benefits. I want him to take better care of our veterans. My dad is a second recall Marine, and my uncles and some of my friends are military men through and through. We need to go out and help the men and women who served our country, make sure they have their benefits. Please take better care of them.  

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office? 

It already has a bit, I’ve already sold nine cars since Trump won. Last month I sold 25 cars, I was the top GM salesman for my dealership. Folks were talking to me before Election Day and worried that if Harris won, they’d have to hold on to their money a bit more. But there’s a sense of relief now that Trump won. We can breathe again. 

I definitely think gas prices will go down and interest rates will fall. And our cost of living will be reduced, instead of everything going up, up, up, maybe we’ll be able to save five bucks here, five bucks there, that’s $10. There are things you can do with that.

Whatever he can do to help make prices lower and our overall cost of living. You go to Walmart these days and spend $100 and you look at your bag and say ‘What did I just buy?’ You used to be able to go there and come home with many more bags.

My wife, Niki, took a step back from working to help raise our children, she knows how to make $40 stretch sometimes. We come from a really humble family and sometimes we struggle, but there is always food on the table. We feel blessed.

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office? 

Right now, my community is pretty strong. I believe we’ll be even stronger, more resilient with Trump back in office to help lower our costs of living and that will help everybody. Nobody on our block, in our town, is going to go hungry. If we have something, they have something. Yeah, times are tough, they’ve been tough, but I believe it’s going to get better. It’s got to. It can’t get any worse.

How do you expect the country will improve with him in office?

He’s going to be straightforward with us and tell us as Americans, we need to be more self-reliant. He’s going to be tougher on those countries who do business with us, too, with the tariffs. We need to start relying more on our energy resources than anywhere else. For far too long, we’ve been relying on other countries. We need to be reliant on what we have here.

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?

 I felt like my life was good when Trump was in office for the first time, I didn’t have much to worry about. I worked 50-60 hours a week in the mines, but once he got out of office, things slowed down, we got less work due to the machines, the new regulations and competition in places like Pennsylvania and New Mexico.

That’s why I stood in line and voted for him on Election Day, my first time voting. Ever. And we stayed up late watching the results. They kept saying on TV he needed Pennsylvania and when we watched it go red, we felt like we did our jobs. Trump is for the hard-working men and women of the United States. 

– Terry Collins

Detroit handyman wants Trump to keep his word

James Jones, 43, of Detroit, is all about people keeping their word and that’s what he expects during Trump’s second term as president. The married father of two adult children voted for Trump in 2020 and did so again this month, citing Trump’s promise of improving the economy.

The handyman who owns a small business “doing some of this and that,” such as installing new sinks in an apartment building, said he was surprised that Trump won so handily. “I honestly thought Harris was going to win with all the money she raised,” confessed Jones, who was among the 20% of Black men nationwide who voted for Trump on Election Day. “I guess I was right after all.” Jones now wants Trump to “take care of the business at hand.”

What specific ways do you expect your life will improve under a Trump administration?

I look at this pretty simple. I want Trump to help us keep enough money in our pockets like he did before COVID because it’s been tough these last few years, especially under Biden. I want him to find a way to make sure Americans have what they need first financially, and create more middle-class jobs, instead of giving money to other countries to fight their wars and other battles. I believe America can provide that kind of funding and opportunities because we have people who are struggling right here. 

What is the first thing you’d like President Trump to do when in office to make your life better?

 I expect him to do what he said he was going to do when he was campaigning. He’s not new to this, stand on what you said and what you are here for, to run this country. Keep your word. Please. Do what you promised. Find a way to lower our costs, the food prices, for gas, and our utilities. End those wars like you said you would do.

How do you expect your financial situation will improve with Trump in office?

I know it will take some time, but I don’t want it to take four years. I want to build my business and add a couple of contractors to help me share the workload, so that way we can all work, eat, and take care of our families. Make sure our money is spent in America first and not elsewhere unless necessary so that we all have a chance to make it. Create a positive domino effect, especially for small businesses. 

How do you expect your community will improve with him in office?

To be honest with you, it’s all on everybody … It’s going to take a lot. I love my community and if we want to improve, we have to do it ourselves. There are a lot of people who go against the grain. Some will believe in a well-dressed-up lie before they see the naked ugly truth.

I know quite a lot of people who are down with Trump, they went with what he said, what was on their minds and what they were going through. They didn’t take what the Democrats were saying at face value and still taking our votes for granted. That’s why people, especially Blacks in Detroit, voted for Trump. And it wasn’t just me. Look at what happened. People made individual choices and weighed the odds that would benefit them. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Times are hard.

How do you expect the country will improve with him in office?

Trump is direct and to the point. No sugarcoating, for better or worse. I do not doubt that he will make the U.S. better than where we are financially. I don’t think he will take any (expletive) from other countries, either. 

Has your life improved under previous presidential administrations? Which ones and how?

I had more money when Trump was president, plain and simple. I guess lots of Americans feel just like me.

– Terry Collins

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