Georgia was once a Republican stronghold but that was decades ago. The Peach State is one of America’s most closely watched battlegrounds, home to a two-term Republican governor and two Democratic U.S. senators.
President Donald Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden in 2020 before narrowly reclaiming it in 2024, winning by roughly 2 percent a far cry from his 13-point margin in Florida, which has since drifted firmly into the Republican column.
With Senator Jon Ossoff’s seat up for grabs in the 2026 midterms, both parties are treating Georgia as a prize worth fighting for. But according to National Public Radio, Trump’s handling of the war in Iran could complicate Republican efforts to flip it.
NPR correspondent Ashley Lopez observed two online focus groups made up of 13 Georgia swing voters all of whom backed Biden in 2020 before switching to Trump in 2024. Seven identified as independents, five as Republicans, and one as a Democrat.
Their verdict on the Iran war was unanimous: not a single participant said the military action was going well, despite Trump’s public insistence that the U.S. has “decimated” Iran and that the conflict is “very close to over.”
When asked how the war made them feel, the voters reached for words like “afraid,” “angry,” “concerned,” “sad,” and “despair.” Many said they feared the conflict was being mishandled and would continue driving up economic pressure at home.
Engagious president Rich Thau, whose firm co-conducted the sessions alongside market research company Sago, told NPR: “They are very anxious, some angry, upset when they hear about the war. They are not happy that we are there.”
Nick H., a 28-year-old independent, was blunt in his criticism. “It’s about calculation, his inability to calculate,” he said of Trump. “It’s clear that he completely underestimated the opponent here…. He couldn’t look at the Ukraine war and see the drones and have the foresight to go, ‘Oh, maybe Iran could use drones and drone technology.'”
Bryan M., 24, shared that skepticism. “They’re destroying our most advanced weapons,” he said of Iran. “No one can predict where this economy’s going to go with the oil prices rising and the food prices rising.”
The frustration extended beyond the battlefield. Dawn H., a 46-year-old Republican, said of living costs: “Everything is higher now. It’s not going down like he said food, oil, housing, health care, you name it.”
Joe J., a 56-year-old independent, was more pointed. “He said, Day 1, he was going to bring the prices down on eggs and other things,” he said of Trump. “He’s cut subsidies to health insurance, so that’s gone up. I see my pocketbook being hit, and he’s building a new ballroom for some reason that we don’t need.”
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