U.S. President Donald Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, February 5, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley/Flickr)
When Donald Trump narrowly won the 2024 presidential election, not everyone who chose him over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was a hardcore MAGA loyalist. Trump also attracted a lot of independents and swing voters, many of whom, according to polls, were frustrated over the economy — especially inflation — and were swayed by his promise to lower prices "on Day 1." But three months into Trump's war with Iran, gas prices are soaring — a problem that the New York Times discussed with 2024 Trump voters.
"Nineteen months ago," reporters Tim Balk, Rachel Richardson and Sam Easter explain in the Times, "Donald J. Trump thundered back to the presidency after pledging to voters that he would 'make America affordable again' and start 'no new wars.' He told supporters that they could get 'very angry' at him if energy prices did not fall under his administration. But since the president took America to war with Iran, gasoline prices have climbed to their highest levels in four years."
Adele Wilson, a 30-year-old dental assistant and Trump voter in Ada Township, Michigan, told the Times that going to war with Iran was a "horrible idea."
Wilson said she has ruled out the possibility of voting for either Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio if either of them runs in the 2028 presidential race, telling the Times she might "vote Democrat until the Republicans get it together."
But Megan Hernandez, a 42-year-old voter in Winthrop, Maine, told the Times that gas prices will not affect how she votes in the midterms. And she said the war in Iran might be necessary to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Ryan Hummel, a 25-year-old resident of Cincinnati, Ohio and a self-described independent, told the Times that he now regrets voting for Trump and cited gas prices as one of his highest expenses.
However, Matt Yerkes, who is 75 and lives in New Richmond, Ohio, supports the war in Iran and described high gas prices as "short-term pain" needed to deal with a "long-term problem."
Raven Hoskins, a 27-year-old Black woman in Grand Rapids, Michigan who identifies as an independent, blames Trump for gas prices and told the Times, "A lot of people, especially of my color, think that he's a really racist man. But I look at him like a businessman. Him running us like a business — I've seen where it's gotten us, and it's not good."
