Wisconsin was decided by just 20,000 votes in 2020, remains deeply divided politically and is expected to once again be one of the key states in this fall’s presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
That’s why MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan traveled to the state to conduct four recent focus groups with Wisconsin voters. They dug deeper into what matters to voters in the state, how they see the candidates, and what might change people’s minds in the final months of the 2024 campaign.
Here’s what voters from four different groups had to say: Trump loyalists, center-right voters divided over Trump, young progressives, and traditional Democrats.
Harris trade worries some Trump voters, but they don’t believe she can win
The group of seven Trump-supporting women made it clear why they want the former president to return to office: They are highly critical of President Joe Biden‘s administration and believe that Trump will be able to “repair the damage that has been done over the last four years,” said Tara, a 47-year-old woman.
Issues like the border and the economy play a big role among these voters, who blame Biden for what they see as unchecked illegal immigration and an economy that doesn’t work for ordinary Americans. And they see Trump’s legal troubles as exaggerated by his opponents.
“I have to work two jobs now to afford groceries. What makes me sick, can I say that? Biden doesn’t know what hamburgers cost, but I bet everyone on this panel does[es]” said Kelly, a 60-year-old woman.
“When Trump was in office, I could afford gas, I could fill up my new Kia, my interest rates to buy a new car have changed. So we have to do something,” she continued.
“It’s about making our country better, getting back to the way it used to be, when families could go on vacation and do this and that. I love that Trump loves the American people, and he doesn’t need a presidency or shootings,” said Amy, a 49-year-old woman, adding: “Why wouldn’t you want to vote for that man?”
Trump’s supporters all agreed that Harris couldn’t win. They claimed she wouldn’t win the presidency because they thought people wouldn’t support her, or they repeated unsubstantiated theories similar to the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election.
But a group of these women did admit that the Democrats’ decision to replace Biden with Harris does worry them.
“Everybody is excited about her, and that scares me,” said Mary, a 76-year-old woman. “Trump has to reconfigure where he’s going to go, and how they’re going to outsmart her.”
And Kelly worried that “Trump’s worst side would come out again.”
Right-leaning swing voters are frustrated with the issues and the candidates, even after Biden drops out
The issues on the minds of Wisconsin’s five Republican swing voters are no surprise — including the economy, the border, foreign affairs and abortion rights. But the conversation showed how voters, even those who think they’ve made up their minds, are worried about their fall choices.
Three out of five voters say they currently support Trump, but two others are undecided.
“My concern with Trump is that he’s going to make aggressive choices and we can’t recover from that. I appreciate that he’s willing to, if a bomb lands on our doorstep, be gone as quickly as it hits us. But that does make me nervous, because have we controlled everything that’s going to happen?” said Alyssa, a 29-year-old woman who still hasn’t decided how she’ll vote this fall.
“My concern about Harris is: a bomb is dropped on our doorstep, it takes six months for us to move and now we are seen as weak,” Alyssa added.
Dawn, who plans to vote for Trump, said she worries that Harris has not been forthcoming about Biden’s fitness for office and that Trump has been “too vocal.”
Karen, a 70-year-old undecided voter, worries about what she already knows about Trump, but also about the unknowns surrounding Harris.
“I don’t think we can ignore Trump’s convictions, his integrity, his moral character,” Karen said. “I worry about him. If he gets retaliated against for something that makes him angry, he’s going to retaliate without slowing down, without thinking about it. I honestly need to get more information on Kamala because I just don’t know enough about her, so I’m going to wait and see.”
Young progressives pessimistic but happy Harris replaces Biden
Young voters, particularly progressives on college campuses across Wisconsin, will be a crucial voting bloc for Democrats this fall. And one thing that’s clear from speaking with five of these voters is that they’re deeply frustrated.
Nicholas, 36, described the state of the world with a swear word, criticizing a system he believes favors “elite, rich people” over the middle class.
“While I have voted for the lesser of two evils in every election because I think that is really the only option we have as a middle class for self-defense, both parties are absolutely influenced by the financial interests, the military-industrial complex, the energy companies, you name it,” he said.
That same concern about the direction of the country and the middle class is one reason Joe, 35, thinks Trump’s message appeals to disaffected people.
“Trump is someone who plays on people’s legitimate concerns about how the economy is doing, about how we have less and less influence when it comes to interacting with government, businesses, our jobs. I don’t think what he’s proposing will actually do anything about that, but it makes people feel good,” he added.
These voters also expressed concerns about America’s stance on Israel’s war against Hamas. This has been a recurring theme in recent months and has raised questions about whether Democrats are willing to pay a political price to base voters critical of Biden’s handling of the war.
The group largely supported Biden’s decision not to run for another term, which favored Harris, even as some lamented that it would have been better for the country and the party if he had made the decision sooner.
Myra, a 39-year-old who said she feels more “energized” by the shift to Harris, expressed frustration that the decision about who to nominate was taken out of the hands of primary voters.
“It should be a process, we should be part of it. So I don’t like that part in principle. That said, she’s the vice president and we’re late in the game, and we would have elected her into office by electing Biden,” she said.
“What she brings is fresh, and you may not know a lot about her, but that’s probably a good thing,” Myra continued. “She was in office for four years, so she may not have the network, but she knows the network, she knows who the players are. She may not have been in the same meetings as Biden, but she’ll be included in briefings, she’ll know where all the chickens are. That’s powerful.”
Traditional Democrats believe Biden should go
That support for Biden hanging up his political stakes extended to the group of traditional Democrats as well. The broad sentiment among those focus group participants was that while Biden may have been held to a different standard than Trump, the decision to step aside was a wise one.
Brett, 41, called Biden’s performance during the June 27 debate “terrible” and said he questioned whether Biden could be president in the future because he was unable to take advantage of the “ripe” opportunity Trump presented during the debate.
“I am really happy that he made the right decision,” he said. “This is the best for our country.”
Still, many Democrats criticized the media and Republicans for what they saw as unfair treatment of both Trump and Biden.
“All the attention was on his stumbling and his clumsiness, which I understand. But Trump was sitting there and everything that came out of his mouth was a lie,” said Richard, 77.
Jolenta, 61, called Biden’s treatment after the debate “disgusting” and accused the media of siding with Trump because they believed he would win. And she said she only felt “OK” with his decision to resign because of political realities, because she still believed Biden had strong values and could do the job of president.
“Whatever gaffes he made during the debate, it didn’t really surprise me because he’s been stuttering his whole life, he’s always been prone to gaffes,” she said.
But Jolenta added that Biden “didn’t hit back, there was so much fodder that he could have just bashed Trump — all the crimes, the frauds, the crimes committed, all these crazy plans that he has for the next administration. And he didn’t, and that’s the only reason I was ultimately okay with him recusing himself.”
As for what they think Harris could do now to distinguish herself from Biden, Democrats floated the prospect of Harris offering a deeper embrace of reproductive rights protections, a possible shift in approach to Israel’s war with Hamas, and a way to address the fact that despite a “relatively good economy,” some people are hurting. And they all believe the stakes of the election couldn’t be higher.
“Trump is, in my opinion, the most dangerous person in the world. And he’s just a loose cannon and you can’t trust anything he or his allies would do. And that’s what really scares me, because he’ll do anything, say anything to win,” Richard said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
