President Donald Trump in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 13.David Ramos / Getty Images
Ray, a New York voter in his mid-30s, backed Donald Trump last year after having voted for Joe Biden in 2020, pointing to Trump’s pledges to boost the economy. Now, he is not happy with the results on all of those pledges.
“President Trump has made a lot of promises that he’s not really cashing out,” Ray said.
But Scott, a 29-year-old Missourian who also flipped from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, said he’s “happy” with Trump’s presidency so far.
“In general, he’s keeping his promises,” Scott said.
The two men’s opposing views of Trump’s presidency underscore the wide range of opinions among swing voters who helped return Trump to the White House — and who may hold the key to the results of future elections, too.
Both men were among eight voters who spoke to NBC News again in recent days after having detailed their hopes for the Trump administration back in January. NBC News is not using the last names of some of the eight voters to allow them to speak more freely about national politics.
These voters, who participated in the final NBC News poll of the 2024 election and backed Trump after supporting Biden or not voting in 2020, were largely optimistic that a second Trump presidency would bring about change, especially on the economy and immigration issues.
Now, they’re split on Trump’s presidency.
Four of the recontacted respondents were happy with Trump’s performance so far, while two offered more mixed reviews and two disapproved of his first six months back in office. (The 10 other voters who participated in January were not reachable or declined interviews.) Overall, public opinion polls have shown Trump’s approval rating declining since he took office, though not as far as at this point in his first term.
These voters also diverged on Trump’s signature policies, including tariffs, deportations and the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
While Trump’s first six months have been dominated by those policies, the recent controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died by suicide while facing sex-trafficking charges in 2019, has clouded some of these voters’ views of Trump.
Some who were happy with Trump pointed to the Epstein issue as one point of contention, saying Trump has “broken that promise” to release documents surrounding the case.
Scott, the Missouri voter who was generally happy with the president’s administration and its performance, said the Epstein matter had “somewhat” dampened his support for Trump, but added, “I’m still seeing how that’s going to play out.”
Stephen, who’s in his mid-30s and works in the film industry in California, said that while he’s happy with Trump for the most part, Trump’s handling of the Justice Department’s files related to the Epstein case “makes me angry to my soul.”
“That pissed me off,” he said. But he later added that he would still vote for Trump again if given the chance to redo his 2024 vote — a potential sign, though in just one interview, that the Epstein case is angering Trump’s base but not necessarily breaking it.
The voters who were unhappy with Trump’s performance so far pointed to his handling of the economy, after his pledges to boost the economy and bring down prices during the campaign.
“Rather than putting American values and American lives first, he’d rather focus on international issues, which isn’t really what he promised,” said Jorge, a Florida independent who was too young to vote in 2020 but backed Trump last year. “His campaign was more or less about helping the economy, helping the working class, and really helping out when it comes to taxes.”
Jorge said in January that he was “skeptical” of Trump, despite voting for him. Now, he says he would not vote for Trump again if given the chance.
Janice Dunn, 82, of North Carolina, said she was “thoroughly disappointed” in Trump so far, pointing to the sweeping federal employee layoffs that marked the early weeks of his second term. She also voiced concerns that high prices have not come down.
“He said he was gonna get gas down, he was gonna get groceries down,” said Dunn. “Now he put tariffs on half the stuff we buy and things are going up, up, up. I feel like a lot of his plans are backfiring.”
