President Donald Trump carried Clare County in Michigan by significant margins in the 2024 presidential election, but his supporters in the rural community are readying to ditch the president as prices continue to soar and food pantries become overwhelmed, Reuters reported Sunday.
“I would probably vote the way the conditions are going,” said Bob Benjamin, a retired auto worker and Trump supporter in Clare County who’s been forced to rely on a local food pantry amid soaring costs, speaking with Reuters on how he sees himself voting in 2028.
“If [Trump is] doing good, if you can see it coming out of a hole, then I give it two more years. But if it's starting to go back down again, well maybe we need a little change."
Trump campaigned heavily on lowering prices for Americans, pledging on the campaign trail to “bring down the prices of all goods,” and “starting day one.” Prices, however, have only increased since Trump took office in January, with the costs of all food rising by 2.1 percentage points between January and November.
Energy costs skyrocketed by nearly 10% during the first five months of 2025, an increase “substantially higher than in previous years,” due in no small part to the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence data centers, a key priority of the Trump administration that carry astronomical energy demands and are often subsidized by neighboring communities.
Taylor Ludwig, a Trump supporter and 35-year-old mother of three, has also resorted to relying on food pantries to help make ends meet. When asked whether she intended on voting for the Republican candidate come next presidential election cycle, she said she wasn’t so sure.
“I'm not just gonna follow along somebody like a sheep," Ludwig said on her support for Trump, speaking with Reuters. "I will follow you until I know it's not OK to."
Similarly, inflation has also continued to climb since Trump took office in January. As of November, inflation was about 2.7% higher than it was a year ago, slowing modestly in late 2025, which, while not as dramatic as the hyper inflation seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, still inched upward.