Every wonder why your friends, neighbors and family are voting for Donald Trump this year?
Reporters from the USA TODAY NETWORK in northern Ohio interviewed 26 voters from Northeast Ohio and this is how Donald Trump voters explained what motivated them to support the former president.
Overall, the economy is their No. 1 issue. These voters say they are worried about high prices.
They also cited the border, abortion and their own faith.
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Name: Mike McKee
Age: 66
Hometown: Jackson Township
Occupation: Retired colonel, U.S. Air Force; former Massillon budget director
Political party: Republican
Mike McKee said he spent a large part of his life and time in the U.S. Air Force as an independent voter.
But his opinion of Republicans changed when Trump was elected president in 2016, he said.
“When Trump was president, my 401K was out of this world,” McKee said. “We also had great food and gas prices.”
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Although he considers himself a big Trump supporter, McKee said he’s not always a fan of Trump’s rhetoric.
“I shake my head with some of the things he says,” McKee said.
The national economy is the main issue for McKee this election year.
“I see my kids struggling, and they all have good jobs,” he said.
McKee said the vice-presidential selection of Ohio’s U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance helped to solidify his support for Trump this year.
“I think Vance could step right in and be a strong president,” McKee said.
McKee said years ago, he would vote for both Democrat and Republican candidates. But today he’s a strict GOP-ticket voter.
“Ten years ago, I did not always vote Republican,” he said. “I’m a diehard Republican now.”
– Steven Grazier, The Massillon Independent
Name: Vanessa McPeek
Age:22
Hometown: Uhrichsville
Occupation: Substitute teacher and full-time college student.
Political party: Republican
Vanessa McPeek is voting for Trump because she believes he will help reduce the high cost of living.
“Between 2016 and 2020, when he was in office, I felt like you could actually live life,” she said. “Now, you have to survive. From my experience as a new homeowner and newly married, it’s not what everybody described it to be. It feels like you’re working hard to pay the rising cost of living.”
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McPeek said the country is heading in the wrong direction.
“I feel like the government is more concerned with sending money elsewhere rather than helping its own citizens who are clearly struggling, especially those who have recently been impacted by the hurricanes.”
McPeek has been voting for just a couple of years, and she said her faith keeps her voting Republican.
“I pray Donald Trump and Vance get elected for the good of our country,” she said.
–Jon Baker, The Times-Reporter
Name: Melissa Munnell
Age: 64
Hometown: Canton
Occupation: Retired care minister
Political party: Republican
Melissa Munnell describes herself as a fiscal conservative who generally votes for Republicans.
This year, she cast an early vote for Trump, who she said has a “proven track record” for “getting things done.”
Tackling issues at the U.S.-Mexico border also played a major role in her vote, she said.
“We are complicit as a nation in a system that brings devastation to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people,” she said.
Munnell said she frets about all that befalls people on their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border.
“There are so many who die in the desert by coyotes. There’s so many who are raped. There are so many who are trafficked. And for whatever their motivation may be saying we should have open borders, lives are just ruined,” she said.
Even those who make it across the border and into the U.S. are hurt, particularly when parents leave their children behind in search of work, she said.
–Benjamin Duer, The Canton Repository
Name: Isaac Klaserner
Age: 20
Hometown: New Philadelphia
Occupation: Engineering intern
Political party: Republican
Isaac Klaserner will cast his first-ever vote for president this year for Trump.
“I’ll be voting for Donald Trump because I remember with him there was a good economy,” Klaserner said. “Going into my adult years, I need things to be cheaper. I’d like prices to be down.”
He said he believes the country is going in the wrong direction.
“It’s definitely getting more expensive, which is not good. Things are getting more polarized too. People are really divided and they’re not thinking that critically for themselves, they’re just sticking with their party,” Klaserner said. “People need to be open-minded and vote for themselves.”
Klaserner said he’s satisfied that Trump is the GOP’s candidate.
“I know that he’s going to get his stuff done, and I’ve heard that other leaders respect him and they’re not going to test him,” he said. “So, I know I’ll at least be safe with him in office.”
–Jon Baker, The Times-Reporter
Name: Debbie Mann
Age: 64
Hometown: Aurora
Occupation: Business owner, vice president of operations at Allen Aircraft
Political Party: Republican
Debbie Mann said she is voting for Trump because she believes the economy and unemployment were better under his leadership.
“I think he ran the government like a business,” she said, adding that she also liked his foreign policy. “Other countries were in fear of the United States.”
Mann’s father, Neil Mann Jr., was one of the founders of Allen Aircraft, which manufactures parts for aircrafts. The business is now owned by Debbie, her father and her brother.
Under Trump’s administration, she said, businesses like hers were encouraged to grow and make new products.
The business, she noted, needs to keep growing, not only to keep its staff employed, but also to help the community.
Debbie said she doesn’t mind Trump saying things that offend some people.
“I think people need to get over that not everything is candy coated,” she said. “Sometimes, some things need to be said.”
−Diane Smith, The Record-Courier
Name: Chris Withrow
Age: 66
Hometown: Wooster
Occupation: Retired, previously ran a nonprofit behavioral home
Political Party: Republican
Chris Withrow, a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fan, is casting his vote for Trump.
“We were better off four years ago. His policies make more sense. They’re more aligned with putting America’s citizens first,” he said.
Withrow said his prime election issues include the economy, immigration and fostering a business-friendly environment to support capitalism.
“We’re headed in the wrong direction due to open border policies, inflation and restrictions on businesses,” Withrow said.
“I’m happy with the choices on the ballot,” he added, expressing admiration for Kennedy, who dropped out of the race for president and allied himself with Trump.
If Trump wins, Withrow said he hopes Kennedy influences U.S. policy on agriculture and food, emphasizing his concerns about health and food safety, especially genetically modified food, or GMOs, and melatonin, a hormone classified as a “dietary supplement” in the U.S. In many other countries, it’s classified as a drug and is available only by prescription.
–Miranda McGrath, The Daily Record
Name: Timothy R. Hahn
Age: 66
Hometown: Alliance
Occupation: Retired technical designer
Political party: Republican
Timothy R. Hahn, a Trump supporter, has been a fixture at Memorial Park in Alliance for four years.
He stands by the roadside there with a sign and a U.S. flag, waving at motorists. He has more signs and banners on his car, displaying his support for his Christian faith and for Trump.
Hahn said he gets honks of support and insults hurled at him.
“There’s times I didn’t vote Republican because I felt there was a better man,” Hahn said. “I’m voting for the man that I believe had the election stolen from him last time. I believe [Trump] is the best man. He wants to make America great again.”
Hahn said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and will vote for him a third time on Nov. 5 because he doesn’t vote early.
Hahn said he worries that the country has lost its faith and moved in a direction that takes away “our history and our foundation of faith.” He said he also believes the nation has moved in a direction that dishonors military veterans.
“Right now, we’re in a battle between light and dark, between good and evil, and between life and death,” Hahn said. “We have to choose life.”
-Benjamin Duer, The Canton Repository
Name: Christopher Vogt
Age: 23
Hometown: Jackson Township
What you do for a living: Executive director of the Stark County Republican Party
Political party: Republican
Earlier this year, the 23-year-old became the executive director of the Stark County Republican Party, while also developing a new safe-dating app with a former college classmate and working as an extra on “The Chosen,” a dramatic TV series about the life of Jesus.
“I am voting for Donald J. Trump and JD Vance because I see our nation at a crossroads,” Vogt said. “I am not voting based on how well I ‘like’ them. I am voting based on policy and the implementation of those policies. President Trump did great for our nation, and I fully believe he will do the same once again.”
For Vogt, the top issue of this year’s election is abortion.
“My Christian faith always informs my vote; it’s the reason I got involved in the political world in the first place,” he said.
Vogt said he appreciates Trump’s “less radical stance on [abortion] by deferring the matter to the states, which allows for more diversified policies that will differ state-to-state, thus effectively decreasing abortion as a whole.”
Overall, he said, the U.S. now is headed in the wrong direction.
Trump and Vance offer a clearer path to “creating a stronger economy, reinforcing family values, and promoting the sanctity of life,” he said.
−Charita Goshay, The Canton Repository
Compiled by Akron Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron-area Donald Trump supporters cite economy, the border, abortion
