‘Woke’: Why some Biden 2020 voters backed Trump in 2024

I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and this is a very special edition of America speaks on straight arrow news we’re going to talk about the first two weeks of the Trump administration. Surprises, frustrations, satisfaction, disappointment. You tell me what matters most to you, and we’re going to show this to the American people. So first question is, everyone you’re looking at right now
voted for Donald Trump, but were previously voters of Joe Biden and before that, Hillary Clinton. So the first thing I want to know is, Why exactly did you switch and Dawn from Minnesota? I’m going to start with you. Why did you change your political preference in 2024 in a sense or two,
Dawn, you’re on mute,
anti semitism on the left that seemed to be coddled by the left
the news media losing its uh, fairness and and and challenging both sides,
um, The Elite sort of attitude that shuts down any disagreement and doesn’t find a middle so just take the issue of transgender rights. Nobody would want to be transgender. I can’t imagine anybody would choose that. It’s who they are. But on the other hand, we have women’s sports. For a reason, women cannot compete with the strength, the all the things that male bodies have that women don’t. So that’s just one example. That’s not my key issue, but
I just felt that we needed to kind of wake up the elites who are trying to tell everybody how to live their lives. The Democratic Party now is so far left that no one can really identify. People are voting Democrat now because they’ve done it for decades, and their parents did it for decades, and they’re not really voting their conscience or their view their positions, because they just gone too far left, and they need to come back to the center, Lucy and then John. I think the reason I voted for him was not so much. I don’t want to say I wasn’t 100% for him. To be honest. I was just pretty sure I was 100% not on the other side anymore. This whole woke attitude that’s taken over is gone too far for me, and I thought the better opportunity of having that moderated was Trump, John and then brandy again. We have to go back to immigration. Something had to be done with it. You know, they said they were doing stuff. They weren’t doing anything. So that had to be addressed. Trump said he would. I believed him. Another thing was, there they were shoving electric vehicles down our throat and stuff, and I’m just not into that. I watched my party over 30 years just dramatically changed to writing recognize it. And after I voted for President Biden, I wasn’t liking how it started off, which led to me researching it on my very own everywhere, and I was disappointed to see that my party lied to me. That’s why I switched Megan and then Jason from New York. I switched my vote because I mainly the economy and inflation. Things have gotten so bad that I feel like my generation in particular is being very, very affected. The American dream is virtually disappearing right in front of my eyes. And I thought that Trump could make a difference,
Jason and then Daniel,
I switched my vote because of economic reasons, primarily my confidence in the future, in regards to Democratic Party has, I’ve lost all faith in it. So we need to have a strong current to have a optimistic future. Again, was your vote more anti Harris and anti the Democrats, or was it more pro Trump and pro Republican? Who says there’s more anti Harris than the Democrats. Raise your hands.
Almost everybody. Okay, so what? What upsets you the most with the Democrats? Anyone here? Feel free to jump in. What bothered you the most about them? They’re too far left and they they’re with this new language you have to learn woke stuff. I just don’t understand it, and it’s like they push it down your throat, and they just go, go, go. People have to stay in the politicians have to always stay in the middle and just lean a little left or lean a little right.
Okay, Jason, explain and define what you mean by woke.
Well, that’s
give you an example. At work, you have to address people a certain way now, so people have these so called pronouns people can identify as a cat, and at work, you have to, you have to deal with that. You have to say meow to somebody or something, or whatever it is. You have to say them. When them is plural, it’s you know your name is John, then you’re John. You’re not them. And if you don’t do this in these certain cities, you’re in trouble, so you have to learn this new language. Somebody comment on that specifically on this woke stuff. It’s very true, um, we had, well,
they want us to put pronouns at the bottom of our signature page for where I work, and I’m like, I don’t feel the need to like, I know what I am,
so I don’t know it’s I. I especially have a problem with this woke stuff and the pronouns and so forth. When it comes to youth, how many of us wanted to be firemen and teachers when we were kids? They can’t. They had, don’t have the brain capacity to tell me, I want to be a girl. I want to be a boy. When you’re a child that is off the table. So that part of it was is really upsetting to me, that that’s even a conversation that what should we do about child transgender, and what you would call, no, absolutely not. When you’re old enough to fight in the army and to legally buy a drink, then we’ll have a conversation. But even then, it’s like, you know, I’m not going to use improper grammar like Jason said, Oh, we should say they or them. No, no, we’re changing the English language to accommodate a very small fraction. I have a problem with
that. Mike, go ahead. Also in Arizona, I know a lot of Latinos. I’ve never met one single one wants to be called Latin X, and it doesn’t personally bother me, but I don’t understand the Democrats insistence on just keep using Latinx and all the gender stuff when people are fine just being respectful, but you don’t need to invent a new language for how to address just people that you see it causes confusion and division. Megan, I see you nodding your head, yeah, I completely agree. It’s gotten out of control. And I agree with the idea of being respectful of each other and but I think that, you know, the non binary, and that they them and and I have two young children, I have no idea how to even begin to explain what this means. If they were to ask me, it’s just become really troubling. And again, I’m all for being respectful of human rights and basic dignities, but I think it’s gone really, really far, and it’s a little out of control. People should can live any way they want, but that doesn’t inflict it upon me to then acknowledge every single live however you want the biology and the DNA states very simply, there are two. I don’t care how you live, but I’m not open to all these 15 different definitions of sexuality or gender. That’s That’s ridiculous. I think that the problem here is that this conversation is exactly illustrating what’s wrong with the Democratic Party is that I agree that this conversation is giving prioritization to this issue. This issue should not be the number one priority of American domestic policy. I mean that we should be talking about other things right now I think Frank, I would just add one thing about this to me, where it crosses the line is when
there was a professor at Harvard who was an evolutionary biologist who was fired for saying that there are two genders, because that’s true in biology, and it was deemed anti trans to say something that’s scientifically true. So part of my problem is that the party that wants it’s the illiberal party, has become ill liberal in the sense of the European notion of illiberal, meaning intolerant they don’t like dissent unless it’s to agree with them correct, and people can’t keep up, and you can’t fire people for making a mistake of calling someone the wrong pronoun
by a show of hands. Who says that Donald Trump is doing better than you expected when you voted for him back in November? Raise your hands if it’s better.
1234567,
of you who says it’s worse? Raise your hands. 12345,
of you.
And I guess the rest is about the same. I want to say it’s not better or worse. It’s basically for two weeks, he said what he’s going to do, and this is what he’s done thus far so
well, that’s why I need better, like he at least, that’s why I voted better, because I feel like he said, he set out, he said what he was going to do, and he’s at least starting to do what he said he was going to do, I would agree with that. He hadn’t done worse, but he hadn’t done I don’t know what you mean by better. In two weeks, I’ll tell you what I mean by better. I think Susie Weil is the Chief of Staff. Is highly disciplined. The Oval office door is closed. There’s a procedure. It’s not the free for all of 2017
you know, issue with the better and worse is that President Trump will do some good things, and then the next day, he’ll do something that makes you question, what’s going on. You know,
President Trump, you can never get he can never just be good for a month, he’s always got to do something that gives you pause. And exactly, I agree that’s been his issue. Yeah, exactly, but it’s true to some extent, yes, but I think, and then I think he’s learned from what he did before and better prepared.
He hasn’t. He hasn’t toned his tongue down. I don’t like seeing I never did his sharp reactions to reporters asking questions that perhaps he didn’t like a way it was worded. Listen, be a human being. You’re an intelligent or you should be the schooling you had an intelligent man.
Okay, so I’m going to ask everyone this question, to bring everyone in this conversation. Hakeem Jeffries is only two seats away of taking control of the House. If he was watching right now, what would you tell the democratic Minority Leader of the House? What advice would you give him
for how to deal with Trump, how to deal with the issues, how to bring you all back to the Democratic Party, not that that’s what I want you to do. But if he was sitting here right now behind the camera, what would you tell him? John from and by the way, this is the perfect I’m looking at the states that you’re from. This is a perfect cross section geographically of the country. John from Ohio, what advice would you give Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats in the House? Number one, you need to tone it down. The other day said, we’re going to get the streets and fight that’s no way to to me lead.
Dallas from Illinois,
work on policy where we can actually, like, see the results of the policy. You know, day to day, life is getting harder and harder and harder, and we need to see action. I mean, that was my that’s my biggest concern right now, Dallas, I need you to be specific here, because it’s a good answer generally, what policies, what issues, what would you tell them to focus on so that they bring you all back home again, inflation, you know, cost of living again. It was said earlier. Don said it, you know, jobs, making sure people like at least expressing concern about unemployment and people having jobs and people learning new skills and investing money that way. You know, things that are tangible, that the everyday person can see, and not these sort of abstract kind of socio economic or socio issues that, like we aren’t particularly all that concerning right now, if I can add one more thing, it just seems like he’s just going to resist anything Republicans bring up. So here we go for another at least two years, it’s just going to be resist, resist and not work to get anything done. I think all speakers, any speaker of the house, should bring their party closer to the middle
period. I don’t care if it’s Republican Speaker of the House or democratic. Speaker out speaker house should be bringing parties together work on the issues together. You got to give some to get some. And every speaker house needs to know that, and that’s what they need to do. He’s a minority speaker, so he should be ruling his party. Tell them, hey, the Conservative Party is in charge. So now we have to tone it down. Stop being two left, come to the middle and get some. So you can give some and get some. That’s what he should be doing right now. Okay, Megan and then Chantelle, what would you tell Hakeem Jeffries to restore your votes for Democrats in the future? I think that focusing on the issues that matter to Democrats and people, I mean people in general like me, which is the economy, housing, inflation, I want to hear more about real strategies and reach and be and seeing willingness to reach across the aisle to achieve what we want and what we need and to get
I gotta push you that’s very general.
So be more specific, because they would say they did this, and you all didn’t vote for them, right? Be more specific. What does he and the Democrats in the House need to do? I want a real plan. I want to hear about policies. I want to hear about ways that they will work with Republicans and other people in the on the other side, and I want to hear specifics about what they’re doing, you know, and I am not getting that right now,
Jan, tell I would say if they started to really focus on healthcare, because that kind of just went out the window, and everybody forgot about that being a pretty big thing in the on the left, the Democratic side, as well as also kind of rooting out and not giving the full intention to the minority in the Democratic Party, like the AOCs of the group that seem to take over for the voice of the Democrats. I know it’s not a policy, but it seems like that’s who is running the party in some ways, and what’s wrong with that? They are the minority. They’re not the majority of the Democrats. Everything else that she does, it becomes a show of ultra left progressive values and making kind of, every time I turn on C span, or I see it on C span, it’s some kind of people are turning it into a show, rather than, you know, the whole democratic party that is more center than that group they call the squad. But every time I turn on the news, it seems like the squad is making a dramatic scene about something. Okay, would have gone to Mike, but he’s on the move. So Jessica, I’m going to you next. What advice do you give Dean Jeffries and the Democratic Party?
Get back to the basics. Don’t get caught up in everybody else’s rivalry between one another. The main thing, and the main goal, is taking care of the people that put you in this position, and they get in these positions and they forget all about the working class. You are pushing electric vehicles when people can barely afford to keep an electric vehicle
or a gas powered vehicle, it’s focused back on the priorities, which is not what your people need and want, but with the working class, the middle class, the lower class needs, okay, what Are those priorities? Be specific here
the cost of living, the raises that we get once a year. Why is it that the rent is continuing to grow by our pay stays the same? Health insurance is getting unmanageable, where people can’t even afford to have coverage for their household. Car insurance, you have to take all of that into consideration, and these businesses are in business to keep themselves paid. What about us? Mike and then Lucy, be specific. Now, what advice for Hakeem, Jeffries and the Democrats in the House? I would drop as many of the culturally divisive issues as possible, and I would focus on jobs, cost of living, health care as much as possible. Okay, that’s that’s a that’s only partially specific. You are telling me what not to do. But what do I do
in those areas?
Then focus on as far as the jobs. What are you doing for for example, for union protections, or that big, big employers aren’t taking advantage of workers. Like, what are you doing specifically to address people’s economic condition? You know what you do for this job? For the speaker. What he should be doing is reinvesting into the schools these trades, because trades are wide open. This is something to speak Jeffries could do is say, hey, Democratic Party, let’s get the plumbers union, electrical union, etc, HVAC, let’s get this back into the schools so that our people can our children can have jobs and sustain themselves, as opposed to being dependent on the government for assistance and for the rest of their lives. That’s what Kim Jeffries could do on job economy and for jobs, but in this situation, being the minority leader, and I think that the thing about the trades and let’s get back to some basics here. Let’s get back to what is going to help our people. We have the younger generation right now. I don’t know how they could ever own a home or afford to own a home or or pay the bills, let alone put the food on the table, we need to get back to basics and give some to get some that makes sense for the people and the other like on a side note, term limits is it’s ridiculous that we don’t have that. It’s absolutely ridiculous. And all facets of the government, we have people that are that cannot relate to this generation or at all they have.
No sense of what the real people are living with Louis and then Don
I have a whole slew of ideas, I would say to Hakeem, but I’ll tell you what really hit me last week, there was a vote for to pick a DNC chair, and every single one of those candidates raised their hands as to why Kamala Harris lost, and they’re all still missing it. In my party, they’re missing the point as to how Trump got elected, why he’s doing everything. They’re missing the point. They said, What is the point? What is the point? They’re missing the point, as far as, don’t say, missing it. What is the point? They’re not in tune with the American public. How do they show that? They all raise their hands saying that she lost because of misogyny and just all the same verbiage you hear all the time, and they all raise their hand if they don’t fix that, there’s no way they’re going to be able to do energy or anything else. So I’m asking you don’t tell me what they didn’t do. What should they do? Be specific. Louis, this. I’m sure that some Democrats are going to see this. Tell them specifically, what should they do.
They should be more in tuned to the American people.
How?
How?
Stop with the blame game. They’re blaming someone else with their shortcomings. They’re saying that. Oh, is massages? Is sexist? Is this the men are not voting for the women, blah, blah, blah. No, they’re not doing that. You’re right. Yes, they’re not. They’re not connecting. Okay, one procedural thing, I think all bills should have to have bipartisan support when they pass. Part of the problem is everything’s become one sided. I thought I was surprised. Speaker Mike Johnson worked across the aisle to do things that needed to happen, and I think Hakeem Jeffries can do the same, and we’ll all be better off. Number two, I think we need to take more of a prevention mindset and to most things. Health is a good example. I disagree with the anti vaccine comments or things that have been attributed to Kennedy, but he’s dead. Right about the food that we eat? Yes, we poison ourselves. We cause health problems. That costs a lot of money.
Yes, business of fixing unhealthy people. We should be in the business of helping people be healthy. First, it’s a lot cheaper, and that’s just healthcare. We could go through a lot of of issues.
Okay, Stanton, you’re up, and then John and I want you to be specific, young voted Democrat in 2016 and 2020 you voted Republican in 2024 How does Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats get you back? Leader Jeffries has he knows the math. He needs to net three seats in the 2026 midterms. And in order to do that, as I’ve heard a couple other participants say, the American people want to see a system that works, and it can’t work when the Democrats are in 100%
opposition mode, John, you’re up. Be specific. Be specific. Do the opposite of what they did before. Why did Trump get elected? Immigration, inflation. Dei, so they need to get away from that stuff.
Crime, again, that’s not specific. John,
now, that’s about all. I mean, that’s basically what they have to do. They have to support that stuff instead of not supporting Okay, I just want to say one thing I’m going to jump in. Daniel, they ought to not be
pushing forth affirmative policies like affirmative action. Dei, these kind of affirmative policies, they should be sticking to the middle ground and pushing forward with
with collaborative policies across the aisle.
What advice do you have for Donald Trump so that he keeps your support over the next three years and 11 months. What does Trump need to do to keep your support? Jason from New York, I’m going to start with you, and then Louise, I’m going to you next.
Let the professionals do their jobs.
And what does that mean,
people that are specialists in their sort of fields, like economic fields, uh, passing a bipartisan laws let them do their job instead of having your own personal opinion and motive. Then I gotta ask you, Jason, do you approve or disapprove of most of his nominations?
His Cabinet and the various agencies. Do you like what he’s doing, or do you not like it? It’s a work in progress. I want to say initially, for now, I don’t like it, but I think the right personnel will be selected eventually. And who don’t you like the most Matt gets? And why is that? Because he’s a pervert. Wow.
Well, there you go. Yes, I know there’s no follow up to that. Luis, what advice do you have for Trump so you’ll continue to support him over the next three years and 11 months?
I would just tell Trump to keep his focus and his policies
with America in mind,
and what does that mean?
Specifics,
anything that benefits our nation, whether it’s how we’re viewed
from other countries, or whether it’s policies that are going to help with immigration, or whether we have to focus on energy, like I said previously, versus any other thing, to cost cut,
how we’re going to live with our country and not be
all the success of money that we’re losing.
By the way, I was rough on you. No, no, no, you’re good. I was there was a purpose behind this. I know that significant people are going to watch this broadcast. I know this, and I want your voice to be heard by them. So it’s politicians. It’s actually the American people. I’m really dedicated to this, so I apologize to you for doing it, but I did not at all Carlos and then Lucy specifically, what should trump say or do so you continue to support him over the next four years?
Not be too aggressive on tariffs to foreign countries, because that will, you know, cause our cost of living to go exponentially higher, and that’s not something that we need right now. So you’re against his tariff policy. Yes, that’s correct. And what concerns you the most about it?
Um, it’s gonna maybe cause like friction between other countries, and they’re gonna be less willing to negotiate, you know, with us, you know, when it’s time and, you know, just kind of sets them off a little bit focus on the populist issues like like immigration, jobs, inflation, we got him elected, and not get distracted by personal stuff,
you know, by Personal stuff. And don’t let foreign leaders, you know,
kind of bring him in like you had like on North Korea in the first term where, you know, first it was Rocket Man, and then they were best friends. You know, they need a more steady foreign policy.
Jason and enchant you know, what I would tell Trump is to lean on his vice president. JD, Vance, he’s a he’s from a different generation, which is great, and he could use his vice president as his voice, because President Trump, as you know, this is last term.
JD Vance, could help him if he allowed him to, because Trump could be a little abrasive sometimes, and people don’t like that portion of him, but they do like some of his policies, not all of them, but some. But JD Vance could smooth that over much better than Trump could, just by a show of hands. How many of you believe that JD Vance should take a more public role in this administration? Raise your hands.
That is almost everyone. Actually, that’s everyone but one, holy cow.
Message to the president, pay attention to your vice president, Megan. You’re up.
Yeah, I would say definitely. Inflation in the economy 100% I think that one of the biggest things is I want it to be possible for my generation to own a home again. So strengthen that American dream, please and and bring it back to where it’s going to be a reality again. That’s what I want. But tell me what policy, because that’s still too general. What policy would you tell Trump to focus on? I would want him to focus on his promise to have America actually produce its goods again, become a nation that actually makes things instead of relying and I think that’s what he’s trying to do with the tariffs right now, but it’s really rocky with the way it’s playing out. But I do want America to start producing its own thing so that we’re not dependent on foreign countries to get our goods. So I would like to see him actually create a space where America is a manufacturing nation again,
Stanton and then Chantelle. My My message would be not to overplay your hand. Just like in 2020 it wasn’t a huge landslide. Seven states could have gone the other way, and they might in 20.
28
I also say Elon Musk was not elected. He’s sort of a plus one, and you have to monitor that. Okay, that’s a very interesting I’ve never heard Elon described as a plus one. That is a great quote. I agree. The main thing for me was the economy. I you know, we need to be able to have an affordable cost of living. I loved Megan’s thing about people being able to buy afford their own homes again. I mean, it’s rough out here, and you can make a great salary, but you still can’t afford what you You still can’t afford things.
Okay, John, you’re up. And then Dallas, my whole thing is he’s got to tone down his rhetoric. Sometimes he’s doing good, and then he someone asked him a question he didn’t like, and then he just goes off. He needs to, I’ve heard Vance talk, very intelligent person. He needs to rely on a lot what he says, and also the Cabinet picks, because I think he’s got some good Cabinet picks in there.
Okay, Dallas, Daniel dawn, and then we’re done. Focus on policies that affect the people. You know, public option for healthcare, inflation, just general opportunity for people to have a life, to be able to afford a life. Leave the ideological rhetoric and policy out of it, it’s not particularly important, and it doesn’t really affect or help the people that elected you to help them. So two things, there are not good people on both sides. It’s pretty clear we need to stand with those who are fighting tyranny and dictators. That would be we should be standing with Ukraine and with Israel. My problem with the left was they were with pallet with the Hamas terrorists. And number two, start with a zero based budget. The federal government. Man has enormous money. It’s not clear how much of it’s actually effective. So build up from zero. Don’t just assume the budget they had, the death that national debt is out of control.
Daniel, what does Donald Trump need to do for you to continue to support him over the next four years? Specifically, I think that this idea of government efficiency, which brings in Elon Musk and other people like him, is a great idea, and I would like to see that expanded on but I don’t want to see the entire economy privatized. I want to see the federal government more effective, and I want to see more luminaries brought in to help with this. That was a great conversation. It was a civil conversation, and there’s a lot to learn on the Democratic side, on the Republican side and on President Trump’s side. I’m Dr Frank Luntz, this has been America speaks on straight arrow news. Thank you for your civility, thank you for your decency, and thank you for your point of view. We’ll be back next week. You.