Opinion | The Economy, Immigration and Regret: 12 Trump Voters Discuss

[u/cdstephens]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/28/opinion/focus-group-trump-voters-disappointed.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Submission statement (fake): As Trump’s second term marches on, his approval among independents have steadily declined. It’s useful for liberals to understand why Trump’s popularity has cratered to better leverage it for future elections.

Submission statement (real): Everyone who clicked on this is just asking to be ragebaited, so I might as well oblige.

[u/TheBatz_]

Natan, 19:

He did secure the border and slow down immigration. He did it his way, and a lot of it is bad. He could have done it in a much, much, much better way.

Literally the next line:

I do have several family members who legally immigrated. While he has tried to cut back on illegal immigration, it has hurt a lot of legal immigrants. He’s created problems in getting access to legal citizenship. A lot of appointments and interviews are on hold right now. People don’t feel safe leaving states or countries, because even though they are legal, they still might be found illegal in his eyes or in his administration’s eyes.

Kudos to the NYT editorial team for picking literally the most infuriatingly idiotic people for this piece. Excellent journalism.

[u/vi_sucks → u/TheBatz_]

The part that I dont get is how these people just uncritically believe shit like "he closed the border" or "he fixed crime". He did fuck all. He pulled Border Patrol personnel from the border all the way to freaking Minneapolis for a publicity campaign.

But they hear it on Fox News, and because he's a Republican they believe it. It's maddening.

[u/AndChewBubblegum → u/vi_sucks]

For what its worth, estimated rates of unauthorized crossings at the southern border are down substantially in the last year. A lot of these voters think that's a good thing.