Wisconsin voted for Trump by 0.9% last year – so we returned to Milwaukee to see if there’s any buyers remorse
Mikey Smith canvases opinion from Wisconsin after a year of Trump
There’s little “buyers remorse” for returning Donald Trump to the White House among his supporters in America’s most divided state, locals said a year on from the election.
Opponents of the President in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are increasingly angry, and called him a “fascist” who has allowed people to “breed a lot of hatred towards each other”.
But his supporters in South Milwaukee are pleased with how he’s handling the job – even if his return to office has divided families and ended friendships.
“Right now with the country shut down we’ve got two tribes fighting,” said Russell Schmidt, a retired man who volunteers to help with the upkeep of his local Lutheran Church.
“I really don’t see any trend toward sitting down and treating each other like human beings like we should and talking about it.”
Donald Trump won Wisconsin by 0.9% in the 2024 election – just 30,000 votes in a state of 6 million would have swung it for Kamala Harris. Then she would have needed just two more of the battleground states she lost by less than 2%.
Across the country Trump’s backers remain happy with their choice. Recent voter regret polls have put the percentage of people who would have voted differently in single digits.
But a striking poll found 56% of Americans felt that Trump was a “potentially dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys democracy.”
“He’s a pig, a liar, a fraud and a fascist,” said Mark, watching an American Football game and eating chicken wings outside the Puddler’s Hall pub in Bay View, a suburb just south of Milwaukee.
His team, the Green Bay Packers, were winning at the time, but he was fuming.
He said: “People are always saying America is ‘sliding into authoritarianism’. Take a look around, it’s already here.”
Green Bay eventually lost the game 16-13.
At a nearby bar, Tag Rodelazian and his son Holden were concerned over the social impact Trump’s re-election had had on their community.
“I think he just allowed these people to breed a lot of hatred towards each other. and there’s no room for conversation. Just teeth and claws first,” said Holden.
“And it was disappointing for him to get elected again, and it’s just furthering the divide we already have.”
Asked if he knew people who voted for Trump, Tag said: “I assume I do. I don’t know for sure.”
He added: “I sincerely hope they’re doing some self-reflection about how it’s affecting not just the people they don’t care for but themselves as well.”
But Tom, a softly, spoken retired construction worker enjoying a beer at an outdoor bar said he thought things were “going great.”
“I think Donald Trump was placed here in the right place and the right time to put America first,” he said. “To try to save America.”
He acknowledged he was a little “torn” at the sight of people being “gathered and shipped back to their own country” by ICE immigration agents.
But he said closing the border was important: “We have to get some control over who’s coming in. I wish them well, but just do it the right way.”
Asked if he knew anyone who voted for Harris in last year’s election, he said no.
“I live in a blue (Democrat) district, but as far as what I know, everyone has followed Trump and the MAGA movement.”
John, a property manager who sat on the front porch of the building he manages just south of central Milwakee, smoking a cigarette, said he didn’t know anyone who voted the other way, either.
“I talk to my neighbours,” he said. “Some people are sticking with him. But some people who did vote for him are shocked at the cruelness. And him not keeping his word, and the open corruption. Tearing down the East Wing (of the White House) and spending all this money on the ballroom when people aren’t getting their food stamps.
“The price of groceries is still high, you know, utility bills going up. And you see the president of the United States not really giving a damn. So that’s rubbing a lot of people the wrong way.”
“It doesn’t really matter, the party affiliation,” John added. “Because people are dealing with real life problems. And that trumps everything. Pardon my pun.”
Russell, a Trump voter, said he too thought the country was going well, but didn’t detect any buyers remorse from his friends.
Asked what he likes about Donald Trump, he said: “He’s a real person. I look at politicians and I see ‘speak’. He has been a breath of fresh air. Now, people don’t like him because he’s a breath of fresh air.”
He added: “I think in some ways he’s a little brash, but he’s a businessman, he’s not a politician. And they look at the world in a different way.”
Asked if he has friends who voted the other way, Russell said: “Oh yeah. Family.”
And asked how he deals with that, he replied: “We don’t talk about it. We’ve come to the conclusion that you know what I want, I know what I want. Neither of us is going to change, so why are we getting upset with each other?”