Meet the former Trump supporters now turning their backs on the president

A lot can happen in four years. SBS News meets Americans who backed Donald Trump in 2016 and came to regret it.

Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor backed Donald Trump in 2016 but is now supporting the Democrats. Source: Twitter/@MayorMikeTaylor

If Joe Biden is going to win the White House, he needs to drive traditional Democratic voter turnout and win over independents.

But there’s a third group of voters backing the former vice president. 

Those who supported United States President Donald Trump in 2016 and came to regret it could play a big role in the 3 November poll.

Chris Gibbs, Ohio

Chris Gibbs
Source: SBS News
Chris Gibbs grows corn and soybeans on his Ohio farm. Once the chairman of his local Republican Party, he backed Mr Trump in the 2016 election.

He’s now leading the farmers’ resistance movement against the president. 

“I’ve got a pond out here. Donald Trump could walk across that pond and I would not vote for him,” he tells SBS News.
Donald Trump could walk across that pond and I would not vote for him.
Mr Gibbs is involved with Rural America 2020, an action group trying to help turn red states to blue in the presidential election by appealing to voters outside the big cities. 

He’s hoping the economic fallout from Mr Trump’s trade war with China and decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will convince some farmers - often reliable Republican voters - to consider backing Mr Biden.
Speaking out against Mr Trump has made life difficult for him in his deep red district, but he says he has no regrets. 

“My grandkids are going to come to me and say ‘Grandpa, we’re studying about this period, what were you doing then?’”

“I’m going to say I stood up. I put country over party. I stood up and said ‘enough was enough’.”

Jim and Donna Hartsfield, Georgia

Donna Hartsfield
Source: SBS News
The suburbs of Atlanta were once reliably Republican, but an influx of new residents from across the US and Mr Trump’s poor approval rating with female voters have moved the area into toss-up territory. 

Outside a diner in Marietta are Jim and Donna Hartsfield. They both backed Mr Trump in 2016 and have already cast their ballots this time around for Mr Biden.
“I thought maybe we needed something different and [Mr Trump] being a businessman, it might be a bit different,” Ms Hartsfield says. “It has been to a certain extent, but I’m very disappointed with him.”  

“To me, he seems to be very egotistical, he’s just out for himself. He says he cares about the country, yet he disparages our military. He thinks he’s done a great job with the pandemic - I don’t think he’s done a good job. He doesn’t want to listen to the scientists.”
I’m very disappointed with him ... he’s just out for himself.
Her husband considers himself an independent.

“I thought the Clintons had run their course, it had been Bush – Clinton – Bush - Clinton,” he says. “I thought we needed a new person in there, and it didn’t work out, quite frankly.”
A close friend of Mr Hartsfield died after contracting COVID-19.  

“The pandemic, which was not [Mr Trump’s] fault, has thrown the United States into economic chaos,” he says. “I don’t think he’s handled it well. He starts calling our scientists idiots. I think he should listen to our scientists.”

Michael Taylor, Michigan

Michael Taylor
Source: SBS News
Despite being a lifelong Republican, Michael Taylor came to regret backing Mr Trump in 2016 quicker than most. 

“It was the first or second day when he was bragging about his crowd size, arguing with critics. It was like ‘are you kidding me? Let’s get to the people’s business’. I started to regret [my vote] right away.”

A lifelong Republican, Michael had backed another candidate in the primary, but couldn’t bring himself vote for Hillary Clinton. A less-than-perfect Republican was still better than a Democrat, he thought. 

“I hoped that once he was elected, he’d take a more presidential tone. Be a leader for the entire country and stop worrying about the petty grievances he’s always so obsessed with,” he says.
The father-of-three is the mayor of Sterling Heights, a town just north of Detroit. It’s an area heavily dependent on the car manufacturing industry.

Mr Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes on the back of support from union workers who’d been told car production would increase under his presidency. 

Some new manufacturing plants have opened, but before the pandemic, 2,400 automotive jobs had been lost in the state during Mr Trump’s first term. The number is even higher now.
“I think that for the most part, people understand that Donald Trump is not delivering on what he said he would deliver on and what he’s saying right now,” Mr Taylor says.  

“While he’s saying, ‘I saved your auto industry, there are more auto jobs’, he’s not right and the proof is in the numbers.”

SBS will be bringing you live coverage as the US election unfolds. Here's how and when you can tune in:

The earliest polls open at 6am local time - which is roughly 10pm AEDT on Tuesday 3 November - and the latest poll closes at 4pm AEDT on Wednesday 4 November.

You can watch live video and read our live blog on the  and  as votes are being tallied from Wednesday 11am (AEDT) until 6.20pm (AEDT). SBS will be streaming coverage from our partners, ABC World News America, with all the latest analysis and commentary direct from the United States.

We will also live stream breaking news as the results come in on SBS News  and .


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5 min read
Published 3 November 2020 7:52am
By Ben Lewis

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