Donna Ryan is a retired director of finance who describes herself as a political moderate and whose political hero is Ronald Reagan. She worries about the national debt, the threat from the Islamic State, and a decline in public morality hastened by social media. She doesn't believe the United States is particularly great now — she rates it at a six when asked to place the country's present condition on a one-to-ten greatness scale — and she would like to see an America that is "free and truly leading the world in everything, including morals."
Donna wanted to vote for Donald Trump. For much of the campaign, up until the summer's party conventions, she was drawn to the appeal of a businessman, and especially a non-politician, running for president. (She still has warm feelings for Ben Carson, whose candidacy she admired.) But she can no longer support Trump and has "pretty closely decided" to vote for Hillary Clinton.
"I so much wanted Trump," Donna told a focus group held Tuesday night in the Charlotte area by the Democratic pollster Peter Hart. "I so much wanted a non-politician. But I don't trust him, and I've become afraid of him."
Why afraid? asked Hart.
"Because I just don't think he knows when to shut up," Donna answered. "If he would just say, I'm a businessman, I'm not a politician, I'm going to make America great again — and stop right there — then I would vote for him."
Get the Exclusive
01.11.2025