Swing voters from Wisconsin share their thoughts on the Iran war, high prices and how they’re feeling about America at its 250th year marker.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Trump administration says that it has a tentative agreement to end the war in Iran, a war that has been pretty unpopular among Americans. Last night, NPR’s senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson heard from some of those Americans. She observed two focus groups of swing voters who backed President Trump in 2024. Hi, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there.
CHANG: Hi. OK, so what did you hear from these voters?
LIASSON: Well, last night was our latest set of monthly focus groups in battleground states. These are conducted by the market research firms Engagious and Sago. They aren’t polls. These focus groups do not give us scientifically significant data, but we’ve consistently heard comments about the Iran war that illustrate polling. The war is unpopular. People are upset that it’s raised their gas prices, and they want Trump to focus on their needs at home. What was different last night was that even though they were told about this tentative agreement to end the war, it’s not like these voters were celebrating. They said it wasn’t worth it. All these voters are from Wisconsin. They’re only identified by their first names. Here’s Tammy.
TAMMY: I just don’t think that it was fair to the American people. I don’t think that anybody was a real winner here. I think we just suffered in the midst of them playing tug-of-war.
LIASSON: Another voter said all it accomplished was, quote, “the square root of nothing.”
CHANG: Dang. OK. But do you think these perceptions might change? I mean, assuming the war does come to an end and, say, like, gas prices go down.
LIASSON: Yeah. Well, that’s the big question. A couple of voters who disapprove of Trump said that something could – that could change their mind would be $3-a-gallon gas. Another voter, Sam, compared this framework deal to the Iran nuclear deal forged by President Obama, which Trump has hammered on for years. And Sam said he’s skeptical that this would have any different outcome than the Obama deal on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
CHANG: Well, what else stood out to you about these voters last night?
LIASSON: Well, something that stood out was just a sense of frustration and cynicism about politics, about politicians, certainly about Trump. One question that was asked last night was about Trump’s birthday. He just turned 80, and the voters were asked whether they had a birthday message for the president. Here are Corey, Robyn and Amanda.
COREY: Happy birthday, Mr. President. What are you doing to ensure that when we get to the age that you are that we’re gonna have America that we grew up learning about?
ROBIN: I would have said I would have bought you a cake, but I can’t afford one, but happy birthday.
AMANDA: It must have really felt good to be able to do whatever you want on your birthday. America doesn’t have that luxury but he does.
CHANG: Wow. It’s kind of brutal. I mean, just reminding everybody, these are voters who supported President Trump in 2024.
LIASSON: That’s right. They swung from supporting Joe Biden – all of them – in 2020 to all of them voting for Trump in 2024. So they represent a key sliver of voters who are very important because they help decide elections.
CHANG: Exactly.
LIASSON: Now, here’s Corey again, who has now turned against Trump, and he mentioned Trump’s conduct in office.
COREY: I like to think if I was at work or any of us were at work and we behaved in the manner that he displays sometimes, we would have some HR issues or potentially lead to termination.
LIASSON: This is important, though. We’ve consistently found that Democrats are not popular with these swing voters either. They say they’re either too weak or too far left, so it creates a lot of uncertainty for the midterms.
CHANG: Definitely does. OK. So these voters – they were asked about Trump’s birthday. But I understand they were also asked about the 250th birthday of the whole country, which is this year. Was there anything in those answers that you found interesting?
LIASSON: Yes. There were people who said they’re very patriotic. They would celebrate America and its progress despite flaws or how they feel about politics today. One voter said, quote, “America is more than the sum of the last four years.” But there was also a lot of ambivalence. One voter said they thought Trump and his treatment of the holiday had made the anniversary feel, quote, “yucky.”
CHANG: That is NPR’s senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you so much, Mara.
LIASSON: You’re welcome.
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