Swing voters who were key for Trump in 2024 have mixed reviews so far

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’s pledges to boost the economy. Now, he is not happy with the results on all of those pledges.

“President Trump has made a lot of promises that he’s not really cashing out,” Ray said.

But Scott, a 29-year-old Missourian who also flipped from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, said he's “happy” with Trump’s presidency so far.

“In general, he’s keeping his promises,” Scott said.

The two men's opposing views of Trump’s presidency underscore the wide range of opinions among swing voters who helped return Trump to the White House — and who may hold the key to the results of future elections, too.

Both men were among eight voters who spoke to NBC News again in recent days after having detailed their hopes for the Trump administration 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.

These voters, who participated in the final NBC News poll of the 2024 election 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.

Now, they’re split on Trump’s presidency.

Four of the recontacted respondents were happy with Trump’s 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.) Overall, public opinion polls have shown Trump’s approval rating declining since he took office, though not as far as at this point in his first term.

These voters also diverged on Trump’s signature policies, including tariffs, deportations and the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.

While Trump’s first six months have been dominated by those policies, the recent controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died by suicide while facing sex-trafficking charges in 2019, has clouded some of these voters’ views of Trump.

Some who were happy with Trump pointed to the Epstein issue as one point of contention, saying Trump has “broken that promise” to release documents surrounding the case.

Scott, the Missouri voter who was generally happy with the president’s administration and its performance, said the Epstein matter had “somewhat” dampened his support for Trump, but added, “I’m still seeing how that’s going to play out.”

Stephen, who’s in his mid-30s and works in the film industry in California, said that while he’s happy with Trump for the most part, Trump’s handling of the Justice Department's files related to the Epstein case “makes me angry to my soul.”

“That pissed me off,” he said. But he later added that he would still vote for Trump again if given the chance to redo his 2024 vote — a potential sign, though in just one interview, that the Epstein case is angering Trump's base but not necessarily breaking it.

Economic struggles

The voters who were unhappy with Trump’s performance so far pointed to his handling of the economy, after his pledges to boost the economy and bring down prices during the campaign.

“Rather than putting American values and American lives first, he’d rather focus on international issues, which isn’t really what he promised,” said Jorge, a Florida independent who was too young to vote in 2020 but backed Trump last year. “His campaign was more or less about helping the economy, helping the working class, and really helping out when it comes to taxes.”

Jorge said in January that he was “skeptical” of Trump, despite voting for him. Now, he says he would not vote for Trump again if given the chance.

Janice Dunn, 82, of North Carolina, said she was “thoroughly disappointed” in Trump so far, pointing to the sweeping federal employee layoffs that marked the early weeks of his second term. She also voiced concerns that high prices have not come down.

“He said he was gonna get gas down, he was gonna get groceries down,” said Dunn. “Now he put tariffs on half the stuff we buy and things are going up, up, up. I feel like a lot of his plans are backfiring.”

Ray, the New York voter, also said the president’s tariffs on other countries’ goods have contributed to economic instability.

But other Trump voters praised his tariff policy and gave him positive marks on the economy. (The interviews were conducted before new tariff announcements from Trump and his administration this week.)

Javan Potts, 23, of Ohio, said he views tariffs as negotiating tactics, saying they have been effective and blaming the media for raising alarms about them by saying prices would “skyrocket.”

Rhonda, a 54-year-old gas station clerk in Illinois, said Trump is “doing well” on the tariffs and said she has not noticed a change in prices of everyday goods.

“Despite what they said to begin with, it seems to be working out well,” she said.

Gonzell Turner, a 40-year-old Maryland resident and federal employee, said in January that the economy and high prices were top issues for him in 2024, and he praised Trump on those issues.

“I feel like he’s put it at the top of his list as far as what he wants to get done for the American people. So I feel like he’s done his part and he’s trying,” said Turner, who also chalked the federal layoffs up to staff turnover that occurs at the start of a new administration.

Trump's signature issues

Trump’s first six months have also been dominated by his focus on deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, which also received mixed reviews from this group of voters.

Potts, from Ohio, said that “we can’t just ignore the problem because we want to be empathetic” and added the U.S. needs a “better system” for people to come legally.

“If I went to Spain the next day illegally, I’d get deported. It’s not just a U.S. thing, it’s an around-the-world thing,” he said.

Rhonda, of Illinois, said she supports the removal of immigrants in the country illegally, but noted that she wants Congress to come up with a solution for “Dreamers,” the undocumented young adults who came to the U.S. illegally as children.

But Ray, the New York voter who said in January that border security was a top issue for him, said that Trump was taking deportations “a step too far” and that the approach to deportations had been “very heavy-handed.”

Jorge noted that he has seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his Hispanic community in Florida. He also said he was recently pulled over by a local law enforcement officer who asked to see his identification.

“I’m an American who now has to be afraid,” Jorge said, adding that he was not surprised by the focus on deportations given Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Still, he criticized the administration for not distinguishing between immigrants in the country illegally with criminal records from those who work and “benefit our society” — an issue that has stuck out in polling on Trump's immigration agenda.

“It’s disappointing,” Jorge said, later saying of Trump, “He thinks he can just take everyone.”

Most of these voters were wary of Trump’s other signature accomplishment of his administration so far: the sweeping tax cut and spending measure known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Though supportive of Trump overall, Scott was torn on the bill. He supports increased funds for immigration enforcement but was skeptical of the trillions of dollars it could add to the deficit, calling the measure a “hard pill to swallow.”

Stephen said that while he would have voted for the bill if he were in Congress, he does not like large spending bills because “there’s always stuff smuggled in,” noting that immigration policy and no taxes on tips are in the same bill.

“Both sides lump everything all together in one thing, because they know if they can get enough popular things on it, then that’s how they get their unpopular s--- through,” he said.

Jorge, Janice and Ray were also all critical of the measure, taking issue with the spending measures and questioning if they would feel the benefits.

“This is another one of Trump’s policies that he said he would do but he hasn’t really, which is cut government, cut taxes on the little people,” said Ray. “Really it’s just filled with tax cuts and more bloat.”

But even with his concerns, Ray, a registered Democrat, said he would not take back his vote for Trump last year.

“Unfortunately I probably would still vote for Trump expecting that he might just crash everything and America gets the restart,” Ray said, noting that he tends to support candidates who speak their minds.

Ray noted that he supported Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City earlier this year.

“Like Trump, I don’t agree with all his views,” Ray said of Mamdani. “But he makes the effort to go out and talk to people and reach out to people and try to actually do things that are better for the working class.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com