Voters in swing states had been essential President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election. We test in with some voters in North Carolina and Wisconsin on the eve of his inauguration.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Chances are you’ll recall the swing states. All seven went in favor of President-elect Donald Trump final November. Essential wins on his return to the White Home. So on the eve of his second time period, we needed to test in with residents there as soon as extra. How are they occupied with what’s to return? We’ve studies from two of these key states, beginning in Wisconsin.
MAAYAN SILVER, BYLINE: I am Maayan Silver right here on the industrial stylish faucet room at Raised Grain Brewing Firm, the place persons are decompressing from the workweek, ingesting beers like Udderly Excellent, a milk stout, and Frivolous Pursuit, a hazy IPA. It is situated in Waukesha County, a Republican-leading suburb of Milwaukee, the place President-elect Donald Trump obtained practically 60% of the vote in November. Pat Walsh (ph) is at a desk within the again with two of his associates, dipping right into a pepperoni pizza and ingesting barley wine. He is carrying an element camouflage, half American flag, Trump 2020 Make America Nice Once more hat. He’ll be eagerly watching the inauguration on Monday.
PAT WALSH: Oh, I am watching it. I am watching it. Wanting ahead to Daddy getting again within the White Home as a substitute of the kindergartners who’ve been working the present for the final 4 years.
SILVER: Walsh needs Trump to do every part he is promised, from closing the border to decreasing inflation to revamping the justice system. Walsh says he completely loves Trump’s cupboard picks and says they present Trump’s eyes are large open this time. On the opposite facet of the room, Pat Metuchenik (ph) says he is additionally a Trump supporter. He says he is on a hard and fast revenue and has to concentrate to each greenback. He says of Trump’s guarantees to cut back inflation…
PAT METUCHENIK: Undecided precisely how he will go about it, however I have a look at it this fashion – he cannot do any worse than the earlier administration that is going out.
SILVER: He says he is not going to look at the inauguration as a result of it is, quote, “an enormous waste of cash” and that politicians ought to spend for the folks, not for themselves.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SUSAN CRAWFORD: Effectively, hiya, Waukesha Dems. I’m actually comfortable to be right here.
(APPLAUSE)
SILVER: About 5 miles away from Raised Grain, Choose Susan Crawford, the liberal-backed candidate in a state Supreme Courtroom race that is scheduled for later this 12 months, is stopping by a meet and greet with native Democrats.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah. Yeah.
SILVER: Individuals listed below are taking Trump’s return very otherwise. Yvonne Lumsden-Dill is within the entrance row of the meet and greet, ready for candidates to take the rostrum.
YVONNE LUMSDEN-DILL: I’m very afraid as a minority, as a feminine, that every one the issues he is speaking about with Roe v. Wade, abortion legal guidelines, immigrants and every part, I consider he will be shifting quick to get these issues in place.
SILVER: She says she has a genetic dysfunction, and the prescription to deal with it used to value $20,000 a 12 months. Now, it is capped at $2,000 a 12 months below the Inflation Discount Act.
LUMSDEN-DILL: For the primary time, I am feeling as if one thing that is occurring in Washington, D.C., goes to hit me immediately.
SILVER: She’s apprehensive that at the same time as Trump ran on pledges to enhance the financial system, on this explicit subject, he’ll reverse course.
For NPR Information, I am Maayan Silver in Waukesha.
STEVE HARRISON, BYLINE: And I am Steve Harrison in Charlotte, North Carolina. On a sunny, gentle Friday afternoon, the Leatherman Golf driving vary close to the town’s airport was packed. The inauguration was not prime of thoughts. Everybody agreed it was shaping as much as be one thing of a nonevent, particularly in comparison with 4 years in the past.
MATT LINCOLN: Persons are resigned to the truth that the Trump administration goes to be in workplace in a pair extra days, and whether or not folks supported him or not, it is what is going on to occur.
HARRISON: That is Matt Lincoln (ph), a Charlotte lawyer. He declined to say whom he voted for, however he is happy that that is shaping as much as be simply one other swearing-in.
LINCOLN: The peaceable transition of energy from one administration to the subsequent is one thing that I feel needs to be on the absolute bedrock of the best way our authorities operates.
HARRISON: Kyler Eckert (ph) voted for Trump and is trying ahead to the inauguration.
KYLER ECKERT: I am undoubtedly enthusiastic about it. Simply from a financial system standpoint, it would be good to see, you recognize, issues go in a greater course than they have been stepping into.
HARRISON: He thinks the U.S.’ standing on the planet will enhance.
ECKERT: Slightly extra respect, I assume, from different international locations. I feel that’ll be good.
HARRISON: Trump gained North Carolina, one among seven extremely contested swing states. However Charlotte – the state’s largest metropolis – is blue. It is in Mecklenburg County, which voted overwhelmingly for Vice President Kamala Harris. Alyssa O’Connell (ph), who voted for Harris, was purchasing together with her husband and two youngsters this weekend. She’s not planning to look at Monday.
ALYSSA O’CONNELL: It is between being busy with children, work, caring for the home. And no, I am not notably excited concerning the subsequent 4 years.
HARRISON: She’s hoping Trump will not comply with via along with his marketing campaign guarantees, similar to deporting thousands and thousands of people who find themselves in america with out authorized standing.
O’CONNELL: I feel what we have seen from Trump is that he does wish to make large statements, after which typically they comply with via, and typically possibly he did not imply them fairly the best way they arrive out. So nobody’s up in arms. Persons are prepared.
HARRISON: Jodi O’Neil (ph) – who’s in her 20s – voted for Harris and is planning to look at a part of Monday’s ceremonies on her cellphone. She says Trump acts like a dictator. She’s not optimistic concerning the subsequent 4 years.
JODI O’NEIL: Lots of people have already seen it coming that he is speaking about mass deportations beginning subsequent week, and so loads of harmless persons are going to get harm throughout this. So…
HARRISON: Eight years in the past, hundreds of Charlotteans participated in a ladies’s march within the metropolis’s downtown, and a whole bunch extra went to Washington, D.C. This 12 months, there are two protests scheduled, however each are anticipated to be small.
For NPR Information, I’m Steve Harrison in Charlotte.
(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO’S “SPECTRE”)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its remaining type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could differ. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
Add comment