National polls and many pundits predict a sweeping loss for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
That would not be unheard of, as the party of the sitting president has lost congressional seats in nearly every midterm for decades.
Yet polling has never fully accounted for the Trump factor.
In each of the past three presidential elections, polling underestimated the share of votes gained by Republicans relative to Democrats.
To get beyond statistical data, The Epoch Times invited six voters—three who voted for Republicans in 2024 and three who voted for Democrats—to join us for in-depth conversations.
The voters talked about their issues, hopes, fears, and expectations. Some were upbeat about the direction of the country. Others, not so much.
All were thoughtful, engaged, and eager for the country and its people to prosper.
We heard a lot about familiar issues—the economy, immigration, the war with Iran, Washington dysfunction—and about some we didn’t expect.
And, yes, we heard a lot about President Donald Trump.
Erin Mazzoni
“I voted for Trump!” Erin Mazzoni said with an excitement Tennesseans normally reserve for Memphis barbecue.
The 47-year-old wife and mother of three was drawn into politics by Trump in 2016. For her, the midterms are an opportunity to solidify the progress of the president’s second term.
“To have two years where he’s a lame duck, essentially, would just be debilitating,” Mazzoni said.
She summed up the current state of the country in a single word: “Wonderful.”
Control of the border, toppling the Maduro regime in Venezuela, cleaning out the deep state, and greater freedom of expression are all positives, she said.
Some of Mazzoni’s conservative friends aren’t quite as happy, partly because of high gas prices.
She said that’s shortsighted. Her political ideology is shaped by the differences she sees in how conservative and liberal policies affect communities.
Mazzoni described the racial tension she faced as a small business owner just outside Philadelphia and the way COVID-19 policies divided her Bucks County community.
An independent film series, Bucks County, USA, documented the health policy debate that exploded into larger battles, dividing neighbors over education, identity, parenting, and civic life.
The emotion is still fresh as Mazzoni speaks. “That was a war for about three years.”
I’m showing up to vote, and I’m dragging every single person I know.
Erin Mazzoni, wife and mother
Her family pulled up stakes and moved to Franklin, Tennessee, a Republican stronghold.
“I might have to pay a little more for gas now,” she said, acknowledging rising fuel prices. “But when I go back to Pennsylvania and see how much it costs there versus here, the differences are pretty staggering.”
Mazzoni’s enthusiasm for Trump doesn’t extend to all Republican officeholders or candidates.
She described frustration with RINOs, Republicans in name only.
Even so, she said she’ll cheerfully support the ticket in November. To her, there’s simply no alternative. She said she can reason with Republican officials about fiscal policy, local development, and water issues.
“But what am I going to talk about with a leftist?”
On her way to the polls, Mazzoni aims to influence others to show up and support the Trump agenda.
“I’m showing up to vote, and I’m dragging every single person I know,” she said with a laugh.
“I don’t care how you feel about me. You are coming to the vote!”
Ashleigh Ewald
Ashleigh Ewald approaches politics with a seriousness that belies her 24 years.
“As someone who has been through five foster homes and was adopted twice, I learned growing up that policies involuntarily affect people, regardless of your status.”
That knowledge motivated her to begin working on political campaigns at age 14. Ewald is now a graduate student and research assistant at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
As someone who has been through five foster homes … I learned growing up that policies involuntarily affect people, regardless of your status.
Ashleigh Ewald, graduate student, Georgia Tech
Although she campaigned for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, she doesn’t call herself a staunch Democrat.
“I don’t like political parties,” she said. “I think they are very divisive, and I think there could be a better way of people focusing on the issues at hand.”
Ewald disapproves of Republicans’ handling of immigration.
“It is clear from this administration that they prefer a certain type of immigrant, and that if you don’t look like their type, then you aren’t an American,” she said.
“Even with legal immigration, they show frustration and hostility toward it.”
She said she believes that Democrats could do with some self-examination too.
“They’ve got to loosen up.”
I’m voting based on financial responsibility and economic growth, but I’m also voting on the social aspect of it as well.
Ashleigh Ewald, graduate student, Georgia Tech
She takes particular issue with the way some liberals treat young men.
“I think that they try to shame young men for wanting to man up,” she said.
She laments that even she must self-censor certain political views around liberals.
“On a college campus, I have to lock it up because I don’t want to get canceled.”
Ewald describes herself as a values voter. As the midterms approach, she’s focused on affordability and character.
“Going into November, I’m thinking about living expenses. Rent is going up, gas is through the roof,” Ewald said.
She also weighs a candidate’s character heavily and is wary of anyone seeking office who has had multiple failed marriages.
“It’s really hard for me to respect somebody who doesn’t take their own wife or husband seriously.”
Ewald has made her choices for Nov. 3 but will reveal only that it won’t be a straight ticket.
“I’m voting based on financial responsibility and economic growth, but I’m also voting on the social aspect of it as well.”
Rowan Byrne
For Rowan Byrne, the appeal of Trumpism has faded—slowly at first, then all at once.
The 32-year-old law enforcement officer and graduate student from Marshfield, Maine, voted for Trump enthusiastically in 2016 and half-heartedly in 2024, and she has no plans to vote Republican—or at all—in 2026.
The movement that began with such promise has become a profound disappointment, she said, especially in the past two years.
But in 2016, it was still fresh.
“The things Trump was saying were resonating, not only with me but with virtually everybody I spoke to,” she said.
By 2024, Byrne described her mood as more exhausted than excited. Yet the border crisis was a pressing issue, and Kamala Harris seemed likely to involve the United States in war with Russia, Byrne said.
Given the options, Trump still seemed the better choice. Or at least not so bad.
She said she sees it differently now.
“After the first couple of months, it started to seem like actually it wasn’t the less bad option—it was the same option. And my entire framework of thinking about politics really changed.”
The problem is the uniparty, Byrne said: foreign influence in the U.S. political system and corporate money dominating electoral politics.
“I didn’t realize they could get in this deep.”
I want a candidate who is seeking to reclaim American sovereignty.
Rowan Byrne, law enforcement officer
She expressed shock, and a touch of embarrassment for believing Trump was immune from those forces.
It felt like a betrayal, Byrne said, especially the Iran war.
“‘No new wars’ means no new wars. I thought the word ‘no’ meant no.”
The letdown drove Byrne to reassess her political philosophy. She remains a conservative, describing the shift not as left or right but inward, a return to values.
“I vote principle rather than policy,” Byrne said. “I kind of went away from that this past election, and that’s where my upset has come in.” She paused. “The least bad option is still a bad option.”
Whatever the outcome in 2026, Byrne said she hopes it will bring some form of reckoning on the right.
“Maybe we’ll get a shot at developing our alternative approach to right-wing politics,” she said, one focused on grassroots values from a conservative perspective.
Either way, she said she’s sitting this one out and waiting for better candidates to emerge.
“I want a candidate who is seeking to reclaim American sovereignty,” she said.
“What I mean is the American citizens’ sovereignty, our sovereignty from the billionaire-donor Epstein class.”
Greg Borchert
Greg Borchert is an energetic 75-year-old corporate recruiter from Lafayette, Colorado, with an infectious smile and a simple political philosophy: vote for the best person.
Character and principle guide Borchert in the voting booth, not party loyalty, he said.
That philosophy has led him to choose candidates from both major parties, including President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, both Republicans, and President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, Democrats.
It also turned him away from Trump in 2016.
“I’m not a Trump guy necessarily because of his politics, but because of his character.”
Listing virtues such as patience, kindness, and self-control, he said, “Trump doesn’t exhibit any of those.”
Borchert voted for Harris in 2024 without much enthusiasm.
“Both sides are lacking,” he said. “I’m sort of a disillusioned centrist.”
Borchert has worked in the metal casting industry for decades and laments the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs over the past 30 years.
The Trump tariffs do seem to be helping, Borchert said, rattling off statistics for heavy manufacturing and the global supply chain.
“I’m encouraged by that.”
Other Trump policies are a mystery.
“Honestly, I don’t get the anti-Canada thing.”
I really am undecided. But it will be a vote of conscience. It won’t be a vote of party.
Greg Borchert, corporate recruiter
One reason he’s able to put party ideology aside is the value he places on individual responsibility over government solutions.
“I can change the world I live in by being a better father, better husband, better citizen, better worker—by being responsible in my own backyard,” Borchert said. “What happens in Washington, D.C., is beyond my control.”
As for the economy, Borchert said he thinks it’s going OK.
“I’m paying my bills,” he said. “I have no shortage of business.”
Yet he lamented the loss of civility in public life and said he misses the open exchange of political ideas he saw growing up in northern Minnesota.
“It’s very difficult, being purple.”
Borchert said that he plans to review every line of the ballot—national, statewide, and local races as well as 14 ballot proposals in Colorado.
“I really am undecided,” he said. “But it will be a vote of conscience. It won’t be a vote of party.”
Luke Thompson
Luke Thompson is interested in politics. Very interested.
The 39-year-old from Winter Park, Florida, speaks as knowledgeably about elections and policy as about his work designing multimedia presentations.
He generally votes for conservatives, primarily because of their policy positions. He said he’ll vote Republican across the board on Nov. 3.
That hasn’t always been the case.
Thompson didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. He described himself as a right-leaning swing voter until the COVID-19 era.
Living in Seattle gave him a front-row seat for the implications of progressive policy, which he defines as protecting feelings rather than rights.
He recalled fitness centers being shut down despite a lack of evidence that they were COVID-19 hot spots. He recalled seeing people line up in front of restaurants to have their vaccination record checked.
“It’s like I was a second-class citizen in my own country,” Thompson said. “Not because these policies accomplished something practical that made a difference. It was just so people would feel safer.”
How does Thompson feel about Trump 2.0? “Mixed.”
He’s very happy with the border shutdown; deportations; removing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from the government; federal deregulation; and the push to develop artificial intelligence.
At the same time, Thompson criticizes the tariffs on U.S. allies, the slow release of the Epstein files, and the war with Iran.
What I want the country to be still has overwhelmingly more in common with the Republican direction.
Luke Thompson, media production designer
Even so, he said he’ll stick with the GOP.
“What I want the country to be still has overwhelmingly more in common with the Republican direction than the Democrat direction,” Thompson said. “Although I certainly feel less enthusiastic about casting the vote I was going to cast anyway.”
Thompson’s vision is less about making America great and more about seeing Americans thriving. To him, that means setting aside big donor preference and enacting laws that actually help ordinary Americans live better lives.
“If either political party actually made that the center of their political focus, they would probably win 60 or 70 percent majorities for multiple elections to come,” Thompson said.
“Problem is, neither party actually does it.”
Joseph Antoniell0
Joseph Antoniello said he is a “fairly traditional” Catholic who thinks deeply about how his faith affects his choices. That makes his political philosophy a bit of a contradiction.
The 39-year-old husband and father of three from Steubenville, Ohio, is used to being mislabeled.
“Somebody may say, ‘Oh, you’re a moderate because you’re pro-life but you’re also pro-government subsidies,’” Antoniello said.
“I don’t think that necessarily means I’m moderate. It just means I understand the world in a particular way.”
That understanding has led him to vote for candidates of both parties, but lately more for Democrats. That included Harris in 2024.
This year, his vote is driven by affordability, which has become a daily concern.
Antoniello was laid off from a marketing job this summer. He’s making ends meet with freelance income for now but still looking for full-time work.
“We’re a single-income family,” Antoniello said. “This year, even when that single income was coming in, it was really hard providing for five people under one roof.”
He said he thinks Republicans have downplayed the affordability problem.
“It’s very hard to reconcile my life experience now compared to what our leadership has said about affordability,” Antoniello said.
“It feels to me that they’re avoiding the question, or just seeing it as the state of the world instead of the state of American politics.”
Based on those bread-and-butter issues and on the GOP’s perceived unwillingness to challenge the Trump agenda, Antoniello pulled a single lever in the ballot box.
We need to make sure … that our Congress doesn’t remain beholden to a handful of billionaires.
Joseph Antoniello, marketing strategist
He voted for a straight Democrat ticket on the first day of early voting.
Antoniello said he hopes that if Democrats do make gains in this election, that may pull Republicans back toward the center rather than pushing them further right.
His hopes for change are modest. He said he looks for an end to the war in Iran, a greater check on the executive branch by Congress, and especially some progress on affordability.
“We need to make sure that wealth disparity doesn’t remain a problem, that our Congress doesn’t remain beholden to a handful of billionaires but comes back to representing the people,” Antoniello said.
“I just want people to live well.”
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