As President Donald Trump prepared to deliver his State of the Union address marking one year into his second term, MS NOW gathered reactions from voters across the country. What they found was not exactly a wave of enthusiasm. Instead, many Americans voiced frustration, disappointment, and in some cases outright regret.
In Iowa, Lana Rankin did not hold back. “He needs to get his act together, and our representatives in Iowa needs to stop following his lead,” she said. “I’m never voting Republican ever again.” Asked whether she had supported Trump in the past, Rankin admitted she had. “First time around, and he did a good job — but then he got stupid.”
Rankin’s frustration seemed personal. “It’s all about him,” she continued. “He just wants to be God and he’s gonna take over the world.”
In Capac, Michigan, Trump voter Taylor Ludwig sounded more cautious but still disappointed. She told MS NOW reporters that she was going to “hold off a little bit before I really give my full judgment on things,” though she acknowledged she had “expected a bit more.”
“I was very, very hopeful that things were really going to just kind of go back to what they were. I’d say before Biden,” Ludwig said. Concerns about transparency also surfaced in Brooklyn, New York. Scarlet Johnson said she does not believe Trump and his administration have been open about the release of the Epstein files.
“Absolutely not. No, no, they have not,” Johnson said. “So, I don’t have any great expectations of them releasing them fully and completely.”
Another Brooklyn resident, independent voter James Colasurdo, focused on foreign policy. He argued that Trump has failed to steer the country away from costly global conflicts.
“He has not prevented any wars. In fact, all he’s doing is stalling a much bigger war in the middle east. I don’t see the accomplishments here,” Colasurdo said.
Back in the studio, MS NOW anchor Katy Tur summed up what she described as a broader national mood. “Republicans, independents and Democrats alike have all been telling reporters and pollsters and basically anyone who will listen that they aren’t happy with the president’s policies,” Tur said.
“They don’t like the immigration policies. They don’t like the violence. They don’t like that grocery prices are still too high. They don’t think Trump or his department of justice are transparent about what’s in the Epstein files. And they definitely don’t like regime change and saber rattling in Iran.”
Tur added that many voters feel the president has grown disconnected from everyday Americans. “On top of that, there’s a growing sense that the ‘he gets me president’ no longer gets them, that he’s out of touch,” she said. She pointed to criticism over a Great Gatsby-themed party during a government shutdown and the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make room for a $400 million ballroom.
“Or when he accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar,” Tur continued, “or when he and his family have profiteered off the presidency, which the New Yorker now puts at more than $4 billion. Taken together, it’s all so distasteful that 60 percent of Americans don’t approve of the job the president is doing, according to a Washington P/ABC News Ipsos poll.”