Voters who spoke with Fox News Digital in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, emphasized the economy’s outsized role in the 2024 election next month, citing the struggles being felt by Wisconsinites across the state.
“I just know I was much better off when Trump was president,” retired teacher Sharon Kaufman told Fox News Digital.
She explained that she considered how her family was doing under both the Trump-Pence administration and the Biden-Harris administration, and also looked “at all our investments and life and bills” before coming to that conclusion.
Tim Moss, who works for an alcohol distributor, explained, “the economy in and of itself is another big thing that the young people [and] older people are all stressing about.”
Voters in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, explained why they are backing former President Donald Trump in 2024. (Reuters)
“I think we’ll be able to at least afford groceries” under Trump, Moss predicted.
“Gas prices were a lot better. Food prices were way down,” said Diana Altwies, a forklift operator. “I went to the store the other day, I bought hardly anything, and I came home with maybe two bags of stuff, and it was over $50.”
According to Sue Matuszak, who is retired, she could not imagine how families — such as those of her six grown children — manage to raise their own kids in the current economy. “I don’t know how families really do it now,” she said.
Matuszak’s husband, also retired, stressed that Trump is “a businessman,” and “that’s what we need in our government.”
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Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are each fighting to win swing state Wisconsin, which has gone both Democrat and Republican in the past two elections. (Reuters/IStock)
Altwies described Trump, who she supported in 2016 and 2020, remarking, “he’s got a little bit of a loud mouth on him, but he tells it like it is.”
For her, this demonstrates that Trump is fearless when it comes to speaking his mind and shows he is not afraid to stand up to anyone.
“Kamala, she just seems all giggly and hasn’t really done anything they claim they have,” she said.
Some of the other issues motivating these voters to support Trump again are safety, foreign policy, immigration and abortion.
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Former President Donald Trump rallied in the traditionally blue enclave of Dane County in Wisconsin. (Getty Images)
“I don’t like to see the babies that are destroyed every year,” Matuszak said, explaining that abortion was an important issue for her.
Kaufman, on the other hand, explained, “I truly believe it should be with the woman and letting her figure out what she needs to do. It’s a hard decision no matter what.”
Despite advertising and messaging from Democrats claiming Trump would institute a federal ban on abortion, Kaufman said she does not believe such claims.
Matuszak also pointed to immigration, telling Fox News Digital, “I am so disappointed about the open borders that we have.”
“I think if that doesn’t get stopped, I think our country is really going to go down,” she added.
Nobody who spoke with Fox News Digital in Waukesha County said they supported the Harris-Walz ticket.
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Americans vote at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens polling place on Nov. 8, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
The voters described seeing Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, signs frequently throughout Waukesha County, which they said was on par with both 2016 and 2020.
They also said they have seen very few signs promoting Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn.
Fox News Digital observed a plethora of signs in general in the county, with the majority appearing to be in support of Trump-Vance and other Republicans. However, in the downtown area of the city of Waukesha, a college town, there were clusters of Harris-Walz signs.
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Waukesha County was ranked as one of the top 15 battleground counties to watch across the country, per U.S. News and World Report. The Milwaukee suburban county has developed this reputation given its shift over the last decade. While Republicans have an edge throughout the area, their lead has shrunk in the county during the Trump-era.
Waukesha County’s movement politically has followed a trend away from Republicans that other affluent suburbs have also experienced.