‘Extremist’ or ‘phony’: Americans share who they voted for and why

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:00

Having these conversations on a regular basis has been really awesome for me, because as a pollster, it’s rare that I get to go back to the same people and ask them how their opinions change at major events, and it’s hard to believe that the election is over, but I feel like I’ve gotten to know you. I’ve gotten to know what you like, what you don’t like, what you want from the next president. So I’m going to ask you a very simple question in the end, who did you go for? What was the key moment, the specific moment that you came to that decision? And in a sentence or two, explain why. So I’m going to start with Chris from Florida. Who’d you vote for specifically when you made that decision? And if you can tell me why?

 

Speaker 1  0:50

Yeah, I voted for Kamala Harris. It was a decision that I’ve been leaning towards heavily over the last few months after the debate specifically really solidified the last 10 days of the election with some of the craziness on the Trump campaign, and ultimately, January 6 was just something I couldn’t pass, and that’s why I ultimately did it

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:11

Pierce. Who’d you vote for when you made the decision, and why

 

Speaker 2  1:17

we voted for Trump. I made that decision quite recently. I was leaning that way, but I really after she went on, COVID went on all her daddy, I made that decision. And then, especially during the hurricane Helene, and because I’ve I voted for Trump, because I feel like he will bring the country to new heights.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:37

Joseph, who’d you vote for when you make the decision? And tell me why Trump and

 

Speaker 2  1:45

I made the decision after he appeared on Joe Rogan, I was leaning towards there, but after watching the interviews, you just seemed like a normal person and much more normal than the other side. And knowing that it’s either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, he seems more normal and open to action series.

 

Speaker 3  2:04

I can’t believe it, but I did end up voting for Donald Trump, and I made that decision about two weeks ago when I saw Vance’s interview with The New York Times, and I thought he is the future of the Republican Party. I’m more voting for Vance than I am for Trump, and that was the same night that I saw Kamala Harris tell my people Christians that we don’t belong at her rallies,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:26

Laura, who’d you vote for?

 

Speaker 4  2:29

I also wrote in. I wrote voted in for Larry Hogan, who unfortunately did not win the Senate seat. And I made that decision probably within the past two weeks. I saw Harris doing a lot of entertainment interviews and not focusing on actual interviews with CNN or new Fox News or more reputable news sources. And in particular, after seeing the SNL skit, I was really disappointed. And the reason I made that decision of running in was because I couldn’t, in good faith, vote for Trump with knowing that he was facing criminal charges, and I also couldn’t, in good faith, vote for a candidate such as Harris that I wasn’t passionate about and I didn’t feel like would represent our country. Well,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:10

Jack, how would you answer?

 

Speaker 5  3:13

So I ended up writing it as well. I wrote in for Mike Bloomberg. Came to that decision right after the Veep debate, seeing those two and the contrast to the presidential debate, and how there was such a lack of substance there, made me come to the conclusion I don’t like either top of the ticket. I feel like Mike bloomber did an amazing job in New York City, really empowered the best, brought out the best of it, and I didn’t want to vote for either the lesser of two evils. I did that the last time around. I wanted to vote for a leader and ended up writing in Bloomberg

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:46

McLean. How would you answer?

 

Speaker 6  3:50

I would say I shocked myself and voted for Trump. No one tell my family. I think I it probably happened after the JD Vance debate. I was so impressed by him, the way he carried himself, and how normal he appeared. And I would say, ultimately, I think I became radicalized by kind of just the men and women’s sports issue. And I honestly felt like the ad that said, you know, Kamala represents the them, Trump represents you, that was so compelling. And so I ultimately just felt, while Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  4:35

and Angela, I’m going to re ask it, because I want you to be more specific. So, 321, Angelo. Who’d you vote for? What was the specific moment? And tell me specifically why?

 

Speaker 7  4:51

So I decided to vote in writing Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, and I made that decision last week after discussing about it with. A group of my friends after I felt I did not feel represented by either candidates. One of them I felt was an extremist, while the other I felt was a phony, and me being a very moderate person, I thought Josh Shapiro kind of aligned with my ideas and beliefs. And I’ve always been thinking about writing in Josh Shapiro as kind of he aligned with that so but I finally made that decision after last week. Tell

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  5:23

me about the last 14 days. Was there a moment? Was there an event? Was there an occurrence over the last 14 days that caused you to think, oh, wow, this is not what I was expecting. This really matters to me something that happened in the last 14 days, Chris, I’m going to start with you.

 

Speaker 1  5:45

Yeah, I think something that really mattered to me was when John Kelly came out with a lot of force against Trump, it was pretty surprising to me. You know, this isn’t someone who is, you know, a leftist person, a Democrat, even a he’s Aspire he’s an aspired military general. And that just really kind of shook me to my core, a little bit, that someone that close to Trump would would say those things about him.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  6:09

Jack what happened those last 14 days? I

 

Speaker 5  6:13

think the Joe Rogan interview was huge for me again. It kind of reinforced my beliefs. Trump enthusiastically said yes in a three hour, just an open, honest conversation with Joe Rogan, who was a former Bernie bro, so certainly pulling no punches with regards to bias, while Kamala, you know, she wanted all these provisions or whatever, not go to the studio and basically just backed out. I think it’s very telling about which candidate is authentic and which candidate is not

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  6:38

physically. Physically physically, show me your hands if you watched at least 30 minutes of that Rogan interview. Wow. 12345678, of you. Fascinating. Okay? Abigail, what was the key moment over the last two weeks. Or how would you characterize the election over the last two weeks,

 

Speaker 3  7:08

when I was able to see how the media has become so corrupted in their cause against Trump, that made me think that I had to help elect him so that journalists would continue to cover at least the administration because they weren’t covering Kamala. Okay? So when there was that Trump clip of him saying Cheney put change in front of a bunch of shooters, right? And someone said, Oh my gosh, this is so deceitful. He wasn’t actually implying Cheney should be shot, I saw a bunch of journalists say that’s not a statistical flip, which it absolutely was to suggest that he wanted Cheney to be shot. And I thought, I cannot vote for an establishment that just thinks it’s okay to lie to us.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  7:52

Hey, Laura, what moments or what was going through your head over the last two weeks?

 

Speaker 4  7:59

Over the last two weeks, I was looking for a candidate that I felt I could trust, and I didn’t get that from either one, which is why I ended up running in but a chemo that stuck out to me, and I guess there were a few, was the SNL skit that Harris did where she essentially made fun of herself. A couple other skits she was on some of the podcast on like the Drew Barrymore show, which happened on earlier on in the campaign, but I realized that all her focus was going to entertain the industries, and that was really frustrating for me. She was avoiding interviews like, as someone else said earlier, wasn’t going to go to the Joe Rogan interview, but Trump was going to take that on, and that came off to me as being very phony and not a good choice for presidential candidate who we need to address tough decisions and work in tough environments, or it’s going to be difficult. And she decided to step away and not embrace that, and so I couldn’t vote for her after seeing that.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  8:54

Lillian last two weeks, what what was important to you, and how did that affect your vote?

 

Speaker 8  9:01

Yeah, there was a lot that happened in the last two weeks. It felt like, honestly, it felt like a year. But like other people said, The Rogan interview, like I said earlier, the pro abortion ads that I were seeing that were so ridiculous, the mainstream media meltdown last week. And I think the thing that was really the nail in the coffin for me was when Biden called half the country garbage, and then the White House moved to change the record officially, that really bothered me. I don’t know how they’re getting away with that, and that made me really want to rally against them, which is not my personality, but I felt myself feeling those feelings. Joseph,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  9:39

how do you answer that question

 

Speaker 2  9:42

honestly, just seeing the amount that the media, mainstream media, was carrying Kamala Harris’s water, in my opinion, in order for us to have a healthy democracy, we need a check on the president. And just I felt that if Kamala Harris was elected, there wouldn’t be a check on her five. From the media, which we probably should be prepared for anyway. But I think there should be a middle ground between the amount that the media checks from to the point where they’re lying to be deceitful to us, and being the best friend of Colin. So Mark,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  10:15

what happened over the last two weeks,

 

Speaker 2  10:17

but specifically when, you know, she went, she went to SNL, when she said she couldn’t go to Joe Rogan, and few media outlets came out and said it’s because of the busy schedule she couldn’t go speak to Joe Rogan, and then the next day, she changed her schedule to go on SNL. So in my opinion, that meant it was more important for her to go be with her celebrity friends and go on a platform that would help her speak to the ordinary American like Trump.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  10:48

Mark from California, your reaction to the last two weeks?

 

Speaker 9  10:52

Um, I think it was a stark contrast seeing how often Trump was going to rallies. He was doing two and three rallies a day. He was going on podcasts. And for someone like me who was trying to be convinced to either vote Kamal or third party, seeing how much he actively avoided not having substantive discussions, like you said, going on SNL and just not giving like real policy discussions, she was asked about something, just saying I would do nothing different from Joe Biden, and she was just doing nothing to differentiate herself from the person that she replaced, and that made me say, I can’t vote for you. You’re not going to do anything for me. Mm.

 

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:00

How many of you, by show of hands, disliked both candidates. Do you have a negative opinion of both? It is literally every single person here. What does that say to you about American democracy that you didn’t like the Republican or the Democrats?

 

Speaker 1  0:21

I mean, I think it just shows how polarized we’ve become, and that, I mean, people vote based on their party over country, and I mean, it’s just, it’s unfortunate to see, I don’t think we’ll ever see another election in our lifetime, whether it’s one candidate that truly wins in a Reagan landslide like I think Trump won in the land side last night, especially being up by 5 million in the popular vote still, but I don’t think we’ll ever come together as a country with one candidate again.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:49

Laura, you dislike both candidates.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:53

Yes, tell

 

Unknown Speaker  0:54

me why.

 

Speaker 2  0:55

Yeah, I think Jack said it best was saying Harris ran on the platform of, I’m not Trump, and that’s not enough to be a president, you need to have more than Well, I’m better than this person. You got to explain how you’re going to fix our democracy, how you’re going to make the United States a better place. And I didn’t get that from her, and as she’s saying, I’m just going to do everything the same as Biden. Well, then I have concerns too, because I’m not really happy with the direction that our country is going in terms of inflation and other issues in our economy. And then I look at Trump, and I mean, he’s a convicted felon, I don’t think that’s a good example to our people. It’s for the citizens of the United States. In addition to that, we all know he can be a bit arrogant and that sometimes he doesn’t necessarily state things as he should, and it can be over exaggerate things. So I don’t trust either candidates, and it’s so incredibly frustrating for me to have to watch an election and know that I’m not going to be happy with either candidate who gets elected, and that for the most people, that’s where they are too. So as much as it was a shock to Democrats last night, I think it’s a wake up call to the United States that we need to have changes if we’re going to have a better future and elect a candidate that we’re actually happy about.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:04

Jasper, I want to follow up on what Laura just said, electing a candidate that you’re actually happy about. Is there anyone in politics that you would have been happy about in this election cycle?

 

Speaker 3  2:18

I’m not sure. Yeah, I’m really not sure. Um, I kind of wish the Democrats had actually gone through the process of like selecting someone rather than just kind of kicking out Joe Biden and doing the Hokey Pokey with Kamala Harris

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:40

Angelo. Dislike both candidates. Tell me why?

 

Speaker 4  2:45

Yeah, so for starters, I want to talk about with Donald Trump. For me, he is just way too extreme. I mean him not even be able to admit that he even lost the election, him not apologizing for what happened on January 6, and then also him being a felon in all his extremist rhetoric, and then him surrounding himself with crazy people, that just sets me off. And then with Kamala Harris, she just is probably one of the biggest phonies in politics right now and again, she was more focused on trying to appeal to, like the entertainment agencies than actual, like typical, like normal American, like working class workers, and that just, she just does not she just seemed more like she cared more about herself and was rather than the actual American people.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:27

McLean, how do you answer that question? You dislike both of them.

 

Speaker 5  3:32

I think Trump has fundamental character flaws and a lack of decorum for the office in a lot of ways, and yet, Kamala feels like she’s run ran so far to the left that she represents a tiny microcosm of the United States that Trump just is able to represent more but again, just Due to his character, has his fundamental fitness questions.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  4:04

Jack, I saw you put up both hands once again, I remember you being the angry soul in these focus groups. I don’t know if it’s because you’re from New York or you just got fired. So what are you so mad at for both candidates?

 

Speaker 6  4:21

Um, yeah. I mean, I, like I said before, just goes back to the rhetoric of both and just the overall temperature of the country. And, you know, I just, I wish there was an opportunity to like someone a lot younger that I felt aligned with my values, and neither one did that

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  4:41

he’s I Aisha, who, in the end, did you vote for? Um,

 

Speaker 7  4:46

I did end up voting for Kamala Harris.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  4:51

And what was the deciding moment for you? The specific moment

 

Speaker 7  4:57

for me, I did not want. To vote for, like a convicted felon, and I just thought that if I voted for her and she won, she’d obviously run again, and if she did a great job for this term, she would also like be motivated to, like, do a better job for the next gym.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  5:18

What was the specific moment in time when you made that decision?

 

Speaker 7  5:24

I would say, like, two weeks ago, it was, like, extremely stressful, and I just didn’t want to stress about it anymore. So it’s just like, I might as well vote for her.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  5:39

And I want to get two more people to tell me why you dislike them both, Mark, you’re up.

 

Speaker 8  5:44

Um, from a policy perspective, I just don’t agree with Trump on most of his policies. And just in my character perspective, a convicted felon, I just think the people he surround himself with as well, it’s just not a person I can take seriously. And on the Kamala Harris end, I think it’s also, let’s not forget, she didn’t make it. I don’t think she made the Super Tuesday in 2020 she’s just, at heart, not a good candidate. And all the things she ran on in 2020 she flip flopped on in 2024 and it just shows she doesn’t have any actual policy positions. She’s just in it for herself, in the wind. And so from my point of view, you’re not you don’t believe in anything. So why should I believe in you? I.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:00

That’s powerful. I want to know if any of you saw ask, because you’re all from swing states, but most of you from swing states, I should say, Was there a specific advertisement, a political ad that you remember either because it was awesome or because it insulted you or because it made you think? Is there a specific political ad that really captured your attention that you could describe both the ad and why it did that? McLean, I start with you. What was the political ad that had the biggest impact on you?

 

Speaker 1  0:35

I mentioned it earlier, but the ads that were highlighting that Kamala Harris was supportive of kind of sex changes for illegal immigrants. You know, Walt’s not caring about men and women’s sports. And then the closing line, like they care about they them. You know, Trump cares about you. And I think that’s just what a line so powerful?

 

{WIPE}

{Ad #1}

{TRT: 0:30}

Speaker 1  0:00

Kamala supports taxpayer funded sex changes for prisoners, surgery

 

Speaker 2  0:05

for prisoners, for prisoners, every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access. Hell no, I

 

Speaker 1  0:12

don’t want my taxpayer dollars going to that. Kamala supports transgender sex changes in jail with

 

Speaker 2  0:16

our money. Kamala even supports letting biological men compete against our girls and their sports. Kamala is for they them. President Trump is for you. I’m Donald J Trump, and I approve this message.

 

{WIPE}

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:03

George, what ad, and why was it so impactful? Uh,

 

Speaker 2  1:07

it’s going to be the exact same ad that McLean brought up, but for a few different reasons. I think that ad is pretty like, indicative of what exactly is wrong with the Republican party going after like a marginalized group, like where people in the country saying, I’m not the president for you. I think that’s an awful message to send to people as well. It’s just that was the only one I was seeing in Georgia, and it’s annoyed the crap out of me every time I’m seeing that up. It’s I couldn’t get a break from it.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:32

Okay, Lillian, what’s the most memorable Trump ad to you? And why

 

Unknown Speaker  1:41

are we talking about specific Trump ads? I thought we’re talking about any ads. It’s

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:44

any ad, any political ad for Trump or Harris that was most memorable to you. Okay,

 

Speaker 3  1:50

yeah, the ad I was talking about earlier was basically a couple, and the wife was pregnant and she was having a hemorrhage, and he had basically the husband calls 911, and he’s like, she needs help, and the Republican Congressman walks into the room and is like, you can’t help her. It’s my decision, because I’m your Republican congressman. And when I had my son almost a year ago today, I had a hemorrhage, and I live in a state with an abortion ban, and I was still able to receive life saving care.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:01

Dr Davis, what do I do?

 

Unknown Speaker  0:02

John chi needs an abortion or she’s going to die from the pregnancy.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:05

Sorry, that’s not happening.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:08

What are you doing?

 

Unknown Speaker  0:09

Who are you?

 

Speaker 1  0:10

I’m your Republican congressman. Now that we’re in charge, we banned abortion. No exceptions.

 

Unknown Speaker  0:17

You can’t do this. She’s dying.

 

Speaker 1  0:19

I won the last election. So it’s my decision,

 

Unknown Speaker  0:22

but don’t worry,

 

Speaker 1  0:23

you can still have children, just not with her. You.

 

{WIPE}

 

And so when I saw the ad, I was so angry, I had a visceral reaction to it, because it’s a lie, and it’s like, if this is what pro abortion activists think, that is reality, I want nothing to do with it. If this is what they think, like how they think the American woman thinks, if they’re preying on people’s ignorance and, quite frankly, their stupidity and their fear. I want nothing to do with it, and that, obviously that really bothered me.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:48

Abigail, is there a specific ad that was impactful? And tell me why

 

Speaker 4  2:58

the ad, when there is there are two married couples, and the two women went in to vote secretly, and they glanced at each other, and then they both voted for Carmel Hill. Oh my gosh, is that what you think of married women that we don’t have the confidence to marry men who we are our equal partners. I could not even tell you when I saw that ad, that’s what the left thinks of people like me. Right? How horrible I cannot before a party that thinks that poorly of me.

 

Speaker 1  0:02

Your turn, honey, in the one place in America where women still have a right to choose, you can vote any way you want, and no one will ever know, did you make the right choice, sure did honey remember what happens in the booth? Stays in the booth. Vote Harris walls. Vote, common good is responsible for the contents of this ad.

 

{WIPE}

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:29

Aisha, what’s the ad that sends out to you more than any other?

 

Speaker 5  3:35

I don’t know if this specifically is an ad, but it was like Kamala Harris telling me that today is today, I should, like, donate to our party. And I was just like, Girl, I’m broke. Go away. Let me watch my YouTube video.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:49

Yeah. How would you answer that question?

 

Speaker 6  3:53

Yeah. I also saw the ad about, you know, the women who are going in to vote and stuff. And I also saw one with a guy and his daughter, and I also thought those were both incredibly condescending or and in the case of the guy with his daughter, it was sending a weird message to me, because I don’t think people should vote, because people are tugging at their heartstrings like that. Yeah.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:00

Do you think the press covered this campaign efficiently, effectively and accurately? Yes or no? Who says yes? Raise your physical hands that the press, for the most part, the mainstream media cover the campaign effectively. See I see one, two hands, that’s three hands. Who says the press failed in its responsibility to cover it effectively, 123456789, people. So I want to hear from those people why you feel the press did a bad job? Mark, you go first. McLean, you’ll go second. Um,

 

Speaker 1  0:45

I just think we see him every day. They go after Trump. They know how to go after a candidate. And just seeing them never go after Conlon, never pressure, never get any substance and substantive opinions from her. It just made me it made me realize they’re ended with her, they want her to win. And as much as I don’t like Trump, I also want the other candidate to prove something to me, and they were actively keeping that away.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:10

And why do you think the press did that?

 

Speaker 1  1:14

They don’t like Trump themselves, and they have their own biases, and I think they and they let it seep into their coverage the election.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:21

George, how would you answer that question?

 

Speaker 2  1:24

Yeah, I don’t think there’s a single mainstream news outlet besides the Wall Street Journal that even pretends to not have a source of bias, whether it’s Fox News on the fright side, or, you know, the New York Times even it’s just seeing how bad the coverage of Trump got that last week, which is, like, awful. I mean, as a student, like the main ones I read is the ones my school gives me, you know, access to, which is Washington Post, New York Times Wall Street Journal. And seeing the Washington Post reaction to them not endorsing a candidate, seeing that people are resigning. It’s, you know, hell on earth over there. And then, you know, the New York Times is just clearly unbiased in its coverage. Doesn’t even pretend to give Trump a shot, and the Wall Street Journal is the only one, and it’s mixed. It’s, you know, it’s just, I always go looking for something else. So, you know, I watched you last night, Frank on free press, which I love. But it’s just they do a complete failure everyone else. It’s just, it’s so not fair to Trump.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:17

In what way is enough here?

 

Speaker 2  2:18

I mean, it’s just the this headlines. It’s, you know, these leads that they’re putting in the newspapers. It’s like, what the Liz Cheney stuff was just despicable. It’s like, oh, Trump threatens Liz Cheney. Well, no, he wasn’t threatening her. He was just saying, like, if she was in the situation that so many American soldiers have been, would she still be this Hawk on war? And that’s the question that so many people refuse to ignore and even on like, I think it was CNN, last night someone was saying, like, oh, you know, oh, he’s, you know, threatening to kill Liz Cheney, which is just not the truth. It’s, it’s disgusting.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:53

Jack. How do you answer that question? And then I’ll go playing after you. Why is the press doing this?

 

Speaker 1  2:59

I think the press really has a double standard when it comes to Trump versus Harris or just the Democrats in general. I mean, we saw it with the garbage comment by Biden that was kind of just glossed over. There was like an apostrophe made up by someone who were so politico and is an fsnbc an analyst, really absurd when Biden clearly called supporters garbage, whereas if a comedian makes a really bad joke, that’s tasteless, but as a comedian that gets plastered all over for days and then even now, like after the election is over, seeing people like on MSNBC and even the New York Times, unfortunately, that you know, are saying Kamala ran a flawless campaign, that they’re basically blaming the election on the American people, which is absolutely repulsive. Instead of, you know, doing some soul searching, maybe realizing that the platform and the messaging was abysmal, it’s the American people’s fault that Trump won and that we elected a felon. Maybe it’s because he actually had substance, and Kamala, you know, just ran on Joy

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:59

McClain, and then, Aisha, why are you so critical about the press?

 

Speaker 3  4:05

I think it’s their tendency to demonize and make everything extreme. I came across a title which was fascist tendencies in Trump, a comparison to Hitler’s rise and that kind of stuff. Trump is awful, and I think it’s totally fair to call him out on that, but comparing him to Hitler is is absurd, and I can’t it’s hard for me to trust a source if it’s willing to go to that extreme. And so I want to be able to trust my sources, and I don’t want it to I don’t want fact and opinion to constantly being mixed.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  4:46

Aisha, how do you answer that question?

 

Speaker 4  4:48

Um, I’m gonna agree. Like, mainstream media is very biased specifically against Trump. And like, I’m gonna have to bring up George point. Like, the. Headlines, especially, they’re very hard hitting and anti Trump, and most people don’t read like the whole articles. You’re going to read the headlines and form their own opinion, and then it’s mind boggling how that plays out. So I think I don’t trust the mainstream media because of that.

 

 

Speaker 1  0:00

For me, I just didn’t like Joe Biden really at all. I felt he didn’t change much for my life. And so when Kamala Harris is running around saying, I’m not going to do anything different from Joe Biden, that doesn’t convince me to vote for you. And also, the war in God has been a big thing for me. And the big, big image, pretty graphic, stuck out to me was I saw a video on Twitter of a child with the with her brains hanging out of her head. And I said, I can’t constantly vote for that at all. I can’t get that image out of my head. Yeah, um,

 

Speaker 2  0:31

I support Trump’s policies in some ways more than I did Harris, but Trump obviously has a very chaotic past, and so I don’t know if there was much he could have done to win me over. But then when it comes to Harris, I think that I really need to see more substance of her, which is what we’ve been preaching over and over again, or particularly, I want to have a more well explained policy regarding healthcare. I need her to differentiate herself more from Biden. And then I was hoping she’d be able to take a few more move herself a little more to the modern area for a few key policy issues. And unfortunately, she didn’t differentiate herself from Biden like really at all, and then was really vague about what she was going to do differently.

 

Speaker 3  1:11

I’m being honest with this. There’s no way. There’s just no way with Trump, every after everything he’s done with in this past, the whole felons, especially with what happened with the master Square Garden that turned me off a lot. And then with Harris, she she just was just so phony and just not real. And she would, again, she wasn’t being honest about her positions. And then she would not really, she would tie herself more to Biden and actually explain her actual views and opinions. And when she first ran, she was saying, let’s go. I want to ban fracking, I want to ban fracking, but then now she’s like, actually, I’m relying more with Biden, who’s more support of fracking. She’s just, she’s flip flopping, and I feel like she’s only trying to do that to win the Pennsylvania election, which didn’t even help in the end, because she lost us with 2.3 points. You.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:00

Okay, guys, project, Donald Trump’s been elected president. What do you think he’s going to do? And do you have a problem with it in only two or three sentences, George, you’re up.

 

Speaker 1  0:10

Yeah, Trump’s going to unleash the US economy. He’s been he was such a proponent of deregulation during his first term, and I hope he enacts that law where, for every world law you create, you have to destroy two more. I mean, I think he’s really going to set free our economy,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:22

Chris, what are you expecting from Donald Trump?

 

Speaker 2  0:24

I think we’re going to get across the board tariffs, which I think will ultimately raise prices at the end of the day, but I think he’s going to end up securing the border, which will probably be, you know, a good thing right now, given the amount of illegal migration that’s been going on the last four

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  0:40

years. So Dominic is the next president. We know that he’s been confirmed. If he were listening to your conversation right now, and you can give him a sense or two of advice, Laura, what would you ask him or tell him?

 

Speaker 3  1:00

I would say that he needs to be open to change and look into reforming the Healthcare Policy and strengthening his standpoint on international affairs regarding Ukraine.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:14

Jasper, what would you tell him or ask him?

 

Speaker 4  1:18

Well, I just asked him to follow through on what he said in his acceptance speech, and that we’ve given him a second chance. So don’t mess it up,

 

Unknown Speaker  1:27

but be specific.

 

Unknown Speaker  1:31

Yeah, so like bipartisanship stuff of that nature, George,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:37

what would you tell him or ask him, if you had the chance,

 

Speaker 1  1:41

I would tell Trump to keep his advisors close. I mean, keep the ones who helped you win at this time, and fill yourself with good people, as we saw with Biden. You know, age can’t take a factor, and while he’s fine. Now, who knows in four years?

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  1:53

Lillian, if you had the chance, what would you tell Donald Trump right now?

 

Speaker 5  1:59

Um, I think that Donald Trump or JD man should go on Joe Rogan regularly? I think that was great for them, and that would be a cool way to, like, check in and give a progress update. Jack,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:10

how do you respond that question?

 

Speaker 6  2:14

I would definitely tell Trump to focus on listening to people, oh, like Elon, keeping them close together in close circles, and definitely not listening to people like Laura lomer, Steve Bannon, keep them far away and keep people like Elon in the circle of trust.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:29

Okay, Pierce, what would you tell him?

 

Speaker 7  2:31

I would tell him that, you know, he’s got four years make him count, and he needs to be a president for everybody, especially a president for those who feel scared tonight, those who feel victimized, marginalized, all those people, like our friends, our family members that we know in every community, he needs to take care of all of us as one people under God,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  2:54

Chris, if he asked you, what would you tell him or ask him?

 

Speaker 2  2:59

Yeah, I would say, you know, you have a historical mandate to enact common sense conservative policy. You know, the voters elected you to make things more like 2016 to 2019 not 2020. To 2021, when he was in office, and to respect his oath and and focus up and get, get the job done for for the people who voted for him,

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:23

Joseph, how do you answer that question?

 

Speaker 8  3:25

I would tell him that after three elections, he finally won the popular vote. American people have made it clear that we want change be the change, including change from themselves. Surround yourself with better people than the first term. Respect the office and make us proud. Emma

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:42

Clane, how do you answer that question?

 

Speaker 5  3:45

Ask him to be gracious to his opponents and not make everything about himself.

 

Dr. Frank Luntz  3:50

Mark, what would you tell Donald Trump or ask him if he had the chance? Um, I’d

 

Unknown Speaker  3:57

say this is your second term. You

 

Speaker 8  3:58

don’t have to run for re election. You don’t have to appeal or appease anybody,

 

Unknown Speaker  4:01

so just make the correct and smart decisions for your last four years so

 

Unknown Speaker  4:04

you’ll be remembered correctly.

 

Speaker 9  4:07

And Aisha, I would tell him that do whatever is in your power to bring down inflation. You’re a businessman, just act like it. You.

 

Speaker 1  0:00

Okay, we’re almost ready to wrap up. What did you get out of this conversation that we had every two three weeks over the last two months? Did it affect how you thought about politics? Did it affect how you thought about the candidates? What impact did it have on you personally? McLean, I’m going to start with you.

 

Speaker 2  0:26

I feel like I learned so much from you guys, and I really enjoyed, actually, most hearing from people that view things differently, from me and voted differently. I would say, particularly Chris. You know, you went for Kamala. You’re a very kind of Mitt Romney national security Republican. I respect that, and we ended up with different results. But I loved hearing you kind of walk through your thinking about why you ended up with your decision.

 

Speaker 1  0:53

Somebody else, Chris, I’m going to go with you. And then Jack,

 

Speaker 3  0:58

yeah, I think, you know, like I said, I’m conservative. I I really struggled with this, and I wish, you know, it was a different nominee that we elected, but nonetheless, you know, I’ll support President Trump. I think something that really surprised me at the beginning. I thought that, you know, I just figured my generation was really, really liberal, and I went to school at a liberal school, liberal arts school, I lived, I’ve lived in major cities, and I was just like, you know, I think this is a really skewed group. I think it’s more conservative than maybe nationally, or just, you know, in a broader sense. And, you know, after seeing the results yesterday and seeing what Gen Z did, like, I don’t know if I can say that anymore. I think Gen Z is more conservative than you know, the the generations above, above us,

 

Unknown Speaker  1:49

Jack, you’re up. Yeah,

 

Speaker 4  1:51

I totally agree with Chris. This was a great opportunity to speak with everyone, gain a lot of different perspectives, a safe space so to speak. You know, ever since 2016 I’ve kind of been terrified to speak about politics in public as a moderate person, you know it causes, you know, divides and friendships, family, etc. So it’s great to hear all these different perspectives.

 

Speaker 1  2:10

I hope that you’ll get a chance to do other focus groups with us in the future, and then we get a chance again to do this kind of repeat session, but I want to thank you very much. You.