A New York Times focus group with Trump-supporting voters between the ages of 20 and 25 mostly found glum outlooks on the economy and world affairs — and an overall sense that the system, even under the man they voted for, just isn't working.
The focus group included 10 people, including seven Republicans, two independents, and one Democrat.
Focus groups are not representative samples the way a poll would be; however, they can give anecdotal accounts of why certain people vote the way they do and offer insight into what kinds of political strategies or world events might sway the decisions of some groups of voters.
Zachary, a 25-year-old scientist from Missouri with no party affiliation, said that under Trump, "We’re a humiliation across the world in terms of foreign policy. The United States is not what it once was. And we can’t seem to drive costs down for the average American. And I don’t feel, up in Washington, they’re really caring about that."
Only one of the focus group members, a 24-year-old engineer from New York named Alvin, gave Trump a 5 out of 5, praising him for "trying to bring back manufacturing jobs" even though manufacturing growth has slowed. Most gave him middling grades, but some rated him a 1.
One of those particularly critical voters was Caleb, a 24-year-old management consultant from Maine.
"I think it’s hard for me to look at the status quo and not see it as objectively worse when it comes to policy, at least," said Caleb. He added that he liked some parts of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill and other policies, "but at the same time, I feel like a lot of the policy that we’ve seen implemented has been reactive to other issues that were caused during the administration. And it’s very hard for me to look back on the improvements that were rebounds from Covid as an improvement in terms of the administration, rather than we’re in a better situation overall."