What Trump supporters believe and expect

With Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, he is poised to make sweeping policy changes at home and abroad. What do the voters in Trump’s coalition want? How do they view the country and its challenges? Here’s what we know from Pew Research Center’s preelection surveys over the past year. Supporters saw Trump as a change candidate. In an October survey, most of his supporters (86%) said he would change Washington for the better, while only 12% said he wouldn’t change things much. Supporters of Kamala Harris saw Trump as likely to change things, too, but 92% said he would change things for the worse. The economy and immigration were top issues for Trump supporters. Just as it was in 2020, the economy was the most important issue for Trump voters this year. In a September survey, 93% said it was very important to their vote. Immigration ranked second, as 82% said it was very important to their vote. This was a substantial increase from 2020, when 61% of Trump supporters rated it as very important to them. Issues that were much less important to Trump voters included climate change (11% said it was very important), racial and ethnic inequality (18%), and abortion (35%).