STEVE CORTES: Who Are Trump Voters And What Do They Want?

Trump won Wisconsin last November, albeit narrowly by 29,000 votes out of over 3.3 million cast. As the consummate swing state, his Wisconsin win exemplifies his surprise triumph in the national popular vote as well.

For context, recall that Republicans lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections before Trump/Vance 2024.

But in Wisconsin, Trump improved his margin materially among the state’s large Catholic population, did much better with women vs. prior runs, and soared among young men. Those same trends held true nationwide.

But just months later, in the Wisconsin state supreme court race on April 1 of this year, the liberal candidate Susan Crawford easily prevailed against former conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Despite a radical record as an activist and judge, Crawford sailed to a +10% margin victory, beating Schimel by nearly a quarter million votes. Trump endorsed Schimel, who seemed to run a competent campaign that was well financed, with record millions in donations pouring into the race on both sides.

So, what explains this divergence between last fall and this spring in the Badger State?

Some issues are peculiar to Wisconsin, to be sure. For instance, in a heavily unionized state, Democrat get-out-the-vote operations matter massively in an off-year election without a marquee name to motivate right-leaning voters.

But two larger issues loom, ones that we in the America First movement must acknowledge and manage going forward, especially into the key 2026 midterms.

New GOP Coalition

First, the GOP transforms into the party of patriotic populist nationalism, a coalition of working-class voters, across racial and ethnic lines. This coalition is a winning one when properly activated, and even attracts legions of young people. For instance, Trump won 18-year-olds nationally.