A focus group of President Donald Trump’s voters spoke so warmly about his Democratic rival that a former GOP pollster couldn’t believe it.
In a Saturday episode of The Focus Group Podcast, Sarah Longwell said she had to text her team midway through a focus group session to confirm the Georgians she was interviewing were actually voters who backed Trump in 2024. What threw her was how the voters in the focus group disapproved of Trump’s job performance in his second administration and their descriptions of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
“I like Jon Ossoff. I have voted for him before. I appreciate him because he does fight for the little guy,” one voter told Longwell. “He just really represents the marginalized community very well. He’s always looking out for us.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Trump’s endorsed pick to unseat Ossoff, fared far worse.
“Collins is Trump’s lap dog,” one voter unloaded. “Daddy Trump said this, this is what I need to do. He’s not leading. I jumped on the Trump train, and I’m shoving the coal.”
Another said he knew almost nothing about Collins beyond attack ads. “Everything I see on TV is just really Ossoff or attacking Ossoff,” the voter said. “I don’t really see why Collins is promoting himself.”
Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter tied the mood to a broader problem for the GOP. She warned that “their base is exhausted” heading into the midterms and that the “enthusiasm gap is like a chasm right now.”
Walter noted that three of the Trump voters independently framed Ossoff as someone who “helps the little guy.” She called the profile striking among people who back the president.
Longwell said she could “feel” the fatigue in the room and described voters who sounded “kind of getting over this Trump stuff.” She added that the exhaustion extended beyond policy as Trump voters retreat to culture-war fights because little else feels like a win.
“I’ll talk about trans athletes all day long because that makes me feel like I’m still on the side of the angels,” a voter told Longwell. “But generally speaking, I don’t feel like there’s a ton to defend.”
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