The bitter truth behind why Trump’s base will never walk away

Fans react as Mauricio Ruffy beats Michael Chandler in their lightweight bout during the UFC Freedom 250 on the Ellipse near the White House., June 14. REUTERS/Eric Lee

Bulwark founder Sarah Longwell conducts frequent surveys with Trump supporters. And her latest reveals many of Trump’s 2024 fans are giving him a low-C grade for his first year.

The survey suggests Trump voters are not ready to admit their mistakes, but critics say a low-average score may not be enough to get Republicans to the polls and pull the party out of its predicted November nosedive.

Longwell joined Cook Political Report editor-in-chief Amy Walter to analyze Trump-voting respondents in Bulwarks’ latest survey.

“The thing that made me give him a C-minus is the promises that he made that from day one, he would lower prices and instead it's the opposite,” said one Trump voter. “Six rolls of paper towels used to be like $6.99. Now they're like $19. So, I just feel that some things he didn't keep his promise and some things he just did wrong.”

The voter also remarked that her daughter works for a government agency where “one day 300 people got fired that morning. Their laptops got taken away and they were just let go.”

“He is holding grudges against people, real or imagined, about people that worked for him before or people that he thought stole the election. I feel like he just can't get over this. And no proof that they really did anything wrong,” said the voter, referencing Trump’s “ridiculous lawsuits that cost us money.”

“I feel like he's falling asleep half the time,” she said, while also slamming Trump’s attempt to rig the election. “I'm very concerned about the next election, what he's trying to do. I feel like if he was so confident in himself, why are you worried about it? I think he realizes there's a lot of dissatisfaction right now with him.”

Still, she rated Trump a “C-minus.”

Another Trump voter gave the president a “C” because of the damage he is doing to the nation’s public safety net.

“There's people that are able-bodied that should be working, that shouldn't be on Medicaid. I get that. But what's going to happen is people that need it are going to have to be filling out paperwork twice a year. A lot of them won't do it,” said the woman. “I just knew that from my own being in the industry. We're being told as insurance brokers that we could very well see a lot of hospitals close, lose funding because of this, so I feel like the Republican current administration does not care about poor people. I feel like it's just about being wealthy.”

Yet another voter gave Trump poor reviews and beat the president sideways, but still could not bring herself to award him an “F.”

“Unless things really turn around, I'm like ... This is embarrassing. I don't really have like a lot of high standards for — you know, I don't want to talk show host. I don't want someone that's plastic and with all these platitudes, but this is just, it's enough,” she said. “… That's why I gave him a C-minus. There's not even a good economy to show for it. At least when people have money, I think when the economy is decent, everything else falls into place.”

With all the punishment being dished out by Trump’s own voters Longwell was surprised there were not more “F’s” in the grade scale. But Walter said Trump voters will not deliver F-grades in a polarized environment.

“Well, I think about this a lot, too, in the sense of just looking back at partisanship is just so much more intense now than it was back in 2006,” said Walter, pointing out that Trump will never reach George W. Bush-level disapproval because Republicans will never admit that to pollsters.

“I think it's really right that polarization and also living in a world where people don't like to admit that they were wrong,” said Longwell. “Nobody wants to say they changed their mind.”

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