Feel better Iam64!
Here is the survey taken in 2024. As always, every voter has different reasons for voting for Trump. I think this report confirms Galaxy's thought that Biden and the Dems came up short the last 4 years, which helped Trump win in 2024. Honestly, historically, the #1 driver of election results is the economy. Many voters in this report said the economy was their driving factor, which is why they feel so betrayed with the tariffs and what Trump is doing.
It is also helpful to point out that MAGA and Republicans are not simply the same group. In fact, MAGA should have been it's own political party in my opinion. The Tea Party actually started back in the early 2000's and eventually morphed into MAGA. From my experience living here we broadly have:
MAGA voters: these voters are mostly on board with Trump's policies. They are ok with him taking people off the streets and shipping them to El Salvador without due process is fine. They are anti DEI (which is different than Affirmative Action) and say they want merit based hiring, but then are OK with Trump putting unqualified white men
Republican voters: Believe it or not, I fit here. I am a lifelong Republican voter. They want fiscal conservatism and less government. I have only voted for Dems 3 times, Al Gore, because I believe in his thoughts on climate change, Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024. I have never voted for Trump as I have never liked him. I find that these people are the ones voting for the economy while holding their nose at Trumps shenanigans. Trump the man and Trump the policies have pushed me into the liberal group though, and I will be voting AOC if she runs in 2028. I expect we will see a similar election result in 2026 that we did after the 1930 tariffs. Dems took 130+ seats in Congress at the next election.
Independents: these people are not committed to any party. They will vote the issues and policies. They are typically the most neutral of voters and they often seek out multiple sources of information before choosing a candidate. This is the group that both parties want to court.
Democrats: The traditional sect of Democrats.
Liberals: the far left of the bunch, nearing Socialism viewpoints. They vote for Dems only because there is no farther left party available to them in the US.
Obviously, this is a generalized list and no one can say 100% why a person voted for who they did. But the study does give an interesting look into the why of Trump voters if you are interested in numbers.
This survey also looks at the race of voters, which has been discussed in this thread previously.
navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-racial-analysis-of-2024-election-results/
The best solution to our elections, in my opinion, in ranked choice voting. However neither party wants that, so it is not hugely popular. We need more than 2 viable parties in the US.
