The Bulwark has continued surveying voters who backed Joe Biden before switching to Donald Trump in the 2024 election, and the results are increasingly filled with frustration and regret.
“Lots of things are expensive right now. Like, we’re looking at health insurance tripling for the same services last year. And that’s from health, dental, vision, all the above,” said one young woman. “Even car insurance needs a cap, if you ask me. But yeah, it’s pretty expensive. And the pay didn’t increase, but the bills did.”
“I’ve seen things like SNAP cuts that are really hurting poor people,” said another former Biden voter who went Trump. “I’m concerned about that. I mean, I have a daughter. She’s been out of college for almost a year and can’t find a job in her field. So, I’m especially concerned about entry level jobs and also concerned about this war, if it drags on. And the stuff with ICE is very concerning.”
Other younger voters echoed similar complaints about the economy, with many pointing out that new workers are being pushed aside in what they see as a worsening job market under Trump.
“I have a lot of people I know who have bachelor [degrees] who have been working retail for the past couple of years,” said a respondent. “And I also think just the dividedness, like, we can’t really be friends with the other side. It’s just petty, just there’s a lot of tension depending on who you voted for.”
Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, said that Trump’s declining popularity is no longer just tied to economic dissatisfaction but is bleeding into everyday life in ways voters increasingly find exhausting.
“The first woman who said, ‘I love to travel, but I can’t right now because of what’s going on at the airports.’ That wasn’t even in the ‘how are things going in the country’ part. That was in the ‘what do you do for fun part,’” said Longwell. “This to me is always something I think about with voters, which is the … ‘my life is getting 20 percent more annoying’ threshold.”
Longwell dismissed claims from Trump allies that the president is executing some kind of long-term strategic master plan, arguing instead that his approach lacks coherence.
“Whenever people are like, ‘he’s playing 15-dimensional chess,’ I’m like, ‘no, he’s eating the pieces, guys. Just eating what’s on the board,’” said Longwell.
The findings point to a growing sense of disillusionment among swing voters who once hoped Trump would improve their economic prospects, only to find themselves grappling with rising costs, job insecurity, and policies that are increasingly affecting their daily lives.
