CNN
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There is bipartisan agreement on two things about President Donald Trump’s early days back in the White House. Voters say the president is moving quickly to keep his promises and is far more proactive and high-profile than his predecessor.
However, there is great disagreement as to whether this is a great thing or a terrible thing.
“Trump is bold and thinking big,” was an early headline from Betsy Sarcone, a Republican voter in suburban Des Moines. “How refreshing to have someone who can say what he means and answer questions consistently.”
Davet Baker, a Democratic organizer in Milwaukee, is on the other side of America’s pro-Trump divide.
“This man is out of kilter,” Baker said as President Trump’s first week back in the White House unfolds. “A president who preaches ‘law and order’ is not defending law and order. … And everyone is afraid of immigration.”
When it comes to Trump, Linda Rooney represents a kind of middle ground, if there is such a thing.
“On the one hand, I’m glad he’s cleaning up the mess Biden left at home and abroad,” said Rooney, who runs a media and consulting firm in suburban Philadelphia. “But I wish he would show more insight. Not all of the people on January 6th should have been pardoned. It’s about our democracy and our elected leadership.” It was an attack on someone.”
Rooney, Baker and Sarcone are approximately 30,000 people who participated in the All Over the Map project, an effort to track the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters in battleground states and key voting districts. Included in 100 voters. . Now that President Trump is on the move rapidly, these voters are weighing public sentiment toward the new administration, including whether the president is losing support from those who voted for him or gaining support from those who oppose him. would be helpful in tracking.
Our initial check-in suggested that their views throughout the campaign have largely held true, with some early highlights.
For example, Rooney voted for Trump, then Biden, then Trump, and suburban voters like her will be important in the 2028 midterm elections.
“I had optimistic expectations after the election, but I feel like he’s like a bull in a china shop,” Rooney said in a text message exchange. “Or maybe he’s using a sledgehammer in places where finer tools are needed.”
Still, she’s largely aligned with President Trump’s pledges to cut taxes and deregulate.
Rooney was a primary voter for Nikki Haley, but ultimately settled on Trump because she believed then-Vice President Kamala Harris was too liberal and not ready for the presidency.
Those who have been with Mr. Trump since the beginning are excited about his hectic and rebellious early days.
“President Trump is keeping his word,” said Tamara Varga, a Republican small business owner from Tucson. “He’s been very transparent and I think it’s a breath of fresh air.”
Kristin Capala, a consultant and Trump voter who lives in the Philadelphia suburb of Drexel Hill, praised the swift confirmation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s efforts to challenge birthright citizenship.
And she was struck by the change in the energy level in the White House.
“The American people have heard more from this president in the first 48 hours than they’ve heard from Joe Biden in the last two years,” Kapala said.
Debbie Katsanos, a Trump supporter from New Hampshire, offered a more nuanced take on the Jan. 6 question than many ardent Trump supporters. She said she believes many of those convicted were rightly charged with more serious crimes. But she also said that “those who have been justly convicted of genuine violence” deserve to be punished if their sentences are fair.
But she said President Joe Biden’s final-day pardons rendered the continued debate over the scope of Trump’s decision moot.
“If you want to talk about the abuse of the pardon system, let’s talk about President Biden’s 11th-hour pardons,” Katsanos said.
Chris Mudd, a Trump supporter who runs a solar energy company in Waterloo, Iowa, praised the president’s early moves but frankly said he would have to bite his tongue at times.
“I like what I’ve seen so far,” Mudd said in a text message exchange. “It’s good to end DEI. I like the amnesty for the J6ers. I don’t expect everyone to like it, but you have to consider the good and the bad.”
Andrew Konczek judges Trump in a similar way. He is sometimes enraged by the president’s tone and disagrees with him calling abortion rights and climate change a hoax.
Mr. Konchek is a commercial fisherman, and on his first day, Mr. Trump followed through on a promise that won Mr. Konchek’s vote to revoke federal approval for offshore wind farms off the coast of New England.
“Donald Trump has already achieved results,” Konczek said.
This truth alarms Trump’s critics.
“The decisions he made, especially around LGBTQ+ rights and racial equality, felt like a step backwards,” said Melissa Cordero, an Air Force veteran who lives in Tucson.
David Moore, a registered Republican but a Trump critic, didn’t like anything about Trump’s early actions.
“The peaceful transfer of power is extremely important, and amnesty for those who would otherwise have had it goes against a big part of what makes America special,” he said at the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales. said Moore, who owns a Western clothing business just down the road. , Arizona. “Immigration policy is terrible. Giving ICE permission to raid schools, places, or worship is pure fear-mongering.”
Tonya Rincon, a recently retired autoworker from a Detroit suburb, said Jan. 6’s sweeping pardons were “lazy and a slap in the face to law enforcement.” But her bigger complaint was that President Trump rolled back Biden’s measures to expand access to health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs. “All of this will make it difficult for the poorest Americans to access basic health care,” Rincon said.
Joan London, a Reagan conservative who switched Pennsylvania’s voter registration to independent for President Trump, predicted that many of his new initiatives would be embroiled in legal battles for years.
The London lawyer also questioned President Trump’s January 6 pardon.
“I supported blue and thought it was the conservative way to go,” London said.
Similarly, former Las Vegas police officer Antonio Muñoz said, “President Trump says he’s pro-law enforcement, but he condones people who commit violence against police officers.”
Yes, Trump is keeping his word, Muñoz said.
“All we can do is wait and see,” Munoz said. “We all know that deporting every immigrant is impossible and would have a negative impact on our law-abiding citizens and our economy.”
