{"id":870113,"date":"2025-09-03T00:12:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/what-do-swing-voters-want-from-the-politics-desk\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T00:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:12:35","slug":"what-do-swing-voters-want-from-the-politics-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/what-do-swing-voters-want-from-the-politics-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"What do swing voters want? From the Politics Desk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the online version of <\/em>From the Politics Desk<\/em><\/a>, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy Friday! Today, politics reporters Bridget Bowman and Dylan Ebs talk with eight swing voters to get their thoughts on the state of Trump\u2019s second term and the big issues facing the country. Then, Kristen Welker raises a question Trump had tiptoed around in the past: Is this his economy now?<\/em><\/p>\n

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Scott Bland<\/em><\/p>\n

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Trump\u2019s tariffs face another inflection point, and a court test<\/h2>\n

By Bridget Bowman and Dylan Ebs<\/h3>\n

Ray, a New York voter in his mid-30s, backed Donald Trump last year after having voted for Joe Biden in 2020, pointing to Trump\u2019s pledges to boost the economy. Now, he is not happy with the results on all of those pledges.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump has made a lot of promises that he\u2019s not really cashing out,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

But Scott, a 29-year-old Missourian who also flipped from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, said he\u2019s \u201chappy\u201d with Trump\u2019s presidency so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, he\u2019s keeping his promises,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

The two men\u2019s opposing views of Trump\u2019s presidency underscore the wide range of opinions among swing voters who helped return Trump to the White House \u2014 and who may hold the key to the results of future elections, too.<\/p>\n

Both men were among eight voters who spoke to NBC News again in recent days after having detailed their hopes for the Trump administration<\/a> back in January. NBC News is not using the last names of some of the eight voters to allow them to speak more freely about national politics.<\/p>\n

These voters, who participated in the final NBC News poll of the 2024 election<\/a> and backed Trump after supporting Biden or not voting in 2020, were largely optimistic that a second Trump presidency would bring about change, especially on the economy and immigration issues.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019re split on Trump\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

Four of the recontacted respondents were happy with Trump\u2019s performance so far, while two offered more mixed reviews and two disapproved of his first six months back in office. (The 10 other voters who participated in January were not reachable or declined interviews.)<\/p>\n

Overall, public opinion polls have shown Trump\u2019s approval rating declining since he took office (more on that below), though not as far as at this point in his first term<\/a>. And critically, from a political perspective, voters may have negative opinions of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy, for example, but be split on the question of which party would handle the issue better.<\/p>\n

Read more from the eight voters here \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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Is this Trump\u2019s economy now?<\/h2>\n

Analysis by Kristen Welker<\/h3>\n

President Donald Trump has acknowledged that economic concerns, especially around high prices, propelled him to another term in the White House. And the latest jobs report, released Friday, along with more moves on tariffs raise the question of whether the president owns this economy now that he\u2019s six months into his second term \u2014 the good, the bad and everything in between. <\/p>\n

When I asked Trump back in May, during an appearance on \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d if this was now the Trump economy, he told me: \u201cIt partially is right now. And I really mean this. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he\u2019s done a terrible job.\u201d <\/p>\n

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a jobs report showing the U.S. added 73,000 new jobs in July while revising gains in recent months, signaling slower-than-expected job growth. <\/p>\n

(Trump responded by firing the BLS commissioner<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

And Trump imposed a new round of tariffs,<\/a> some set to take effect next week, that formalized some recent trade agreements and levied higher tariff rates against trading partners that failed to strike deals with the U.S. <\/p>\n

Trump has maintained that his tariffs will strengthen the economy, telling NBC News\u2019 Garrett Haake in a phone interview<\/a> last night, \u201cWe will be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, and very quickly.\u201d <\/p>\n

The president dismissed concerns that his tariffs could cause prices to rise on some goods, telling Garrett, \u201cThe only price that\u2019s spiked is the hundreds of billions of dollars coming in.\u201d <\/p>\n

But recent polling suggests that voters have soured on the president\u2019s handling of the economy. <\/p>\n

A Wall Street Journal poll<\/a> released this week found a majority of voters (53%) disapproving of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy, while 44% approved. A slightly higher share (57%) disapproved of his handling of tariffs, while 40% approved. The survey was conducted July 16-20 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll delve into the economy and more on this Sunday\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d where we will be joined by Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.<\/p>\n

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????\ufe0f Today’s other top stories<\/h2>\n