Two-thirds of people in six battleground states who voted for President Trump in 2016 but Democrats in the 2018 midterms are returning to the president for 2020, according to a surprising new poll.
The New York Times Upshot/Siena College survey found that many of those who left the GOP last year are returning to Trump because they feel good about the economy.
The Times write-up cautioned, “This group is only a sliver of the electorate — 2 percent of registered voters — and is not representative of all voters. They are overwhelmingly white, 60 percent are male, and two-thirds have no college degree. But the president’s strength among them helps explain why he is highly competitive in states that Democrats carried just one year ago.”
The newspaper quoted seven voters who said they stand ready to vote Trump back into office — even those who voted for Hillary Clinton. “7 percent of those who supported Mrs. Clinton in 2016 said they now approved of the president’s performance — despite his personality and his Twitter account, many said,” according to the Times.
The reasons many of those quoted gave for choosing Trump over the eventual Democratic nominee sound like a Trump campaign ad.
The analysis cited Michael Townsend, 38, a lifelong Democrat and construction worker in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, who voted for Trump but then Democrats in 2018. “I’ve been in construction 21 years, and the last two years were the best years I’ve ever had,” he said.
In the Clinton camp was Juli Anna California, a 57-year-old Florida nurse. But in 2020 she’s changing. “[Trump’s] not exactly the person I’d have as my best friend,” she told the Times. “But he’s a great president. Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them.”
And Matthew Headley, a Michigan general contractor and pizza business owner, echoed what the GOP has been saying about the House impeachment probe. “The harder [Democrats are] going after Trump, the more they’re just alienating people and pushing them away,” he said.
