Durham also backs Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles, and said she wishes state leaders would cooperate with the president.
“There are some that say he’s a dictator. Well, no, he’s not a dictator — we voted him in,” she said. “I think it would all be a lot better if we didn’t resist the federal government and instead just got together and said, ‘Hey, I’m with you … Let’s sit down, work together and clean it up instead of fight it.’”
On health care, Durham said she’s glad to see the administration target Medicaid fraud. In July, Trump signed into law his sweeping policy bill, including an estimated $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Much of that reduction would come from new work requirements and additional paperwork demands that would shrink enrollment.
“I honestly believe if all the fraud could be cut out of Medicaid and Medicare, we would be in a surplus of money,” she said.
Durham also praised Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiatives, especially efforts to remove synthetic dyes from the food supply and curb ultra-processed foods, raising concerns about what her grandchild eats. She’s also in favor of his updated childhood vaccine schedule, calling the previous standard “ridiculous” and saying families need choices.
Cindy Cremona, 66, formerly San Diego County
When Cindy Cremona heard about Proposition 50, the November 2025 ballot measure approved by voters that redraws California’s congressional maps, she felt Republicans would never have a voice in the state.
“I think for many, people just felt that it was going to lock in California as a blue state forever and ever,” she said.
In September, Cremona moved from Encinitas, a coastal city in northern San Diego County, to Wellington, Florida. She had been considering the move since Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019 and was even more compelled to leave during the pandemic, when she felt the state went too far with vaccine and mask mandates and lockdowns.
Cindy Cremona and her 12-year-old Andalusian horse, Durango, in San Marcos, California, on May 8, 2025. (Carolyne Corelis/KPBS)
Last year, she reached her breaking point and decided to move, citing “the politics, the taxes, the over-regulation, the traffic, the overdevelopment.”
Cremona finds Florida’s housing costs and policies preferable to California’s. For instance, she took issue with last year’s passing of SB 79, which makes it easier to build apartment buildings near major public transit stops.
She’s optimistic about Trump’s housing proposals, including a recent pledge to target institutional investors who buy up single-family homes. Newsom echoed a similar stance toward corporate landlords in his State of the State address, a rare instance of political overlap between the Democratic governor and the president.
Looking ahead, Cremona expressed confidence in the president’s ability to deliver on other economic promises, like lower food and energy costs.
“I think 2026 is the year where we’ll see some of those policies borne out,” she said.
Debbie Pope, 60, Long Beach
Debbie Pope is deeply disillusioned with Trump’s first year back in office. At the beginning of 2025, she welcomed what she described as Trump’s “guns-a-blazing” return. But her view shifted in the second half of the year, following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and repeated delays in releasing the Epstein files.
“I saw a whole different view of Trump after that for some reason,” she said. “The biggest disappointment is the Epstein files. It’s just like, Trump, you’re in them. You’re in it.”
Debbie Pope in her Long Beach home on May 10, 2024. (Courtesy of Debbie Pope)
Pope voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, but before that, she was a Democrat and voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Her party switch was driven by a distaste for Hillary Clinton and Trump’s hardline stance on immigration, one of her top policy concerns.
The daughter of a Nicaraguan immigrant, Pope supports stricter border enforcement — and thinks Trump has failed to deliver on promises of mass deportations.
She wants to see the president focus on domestic issues, like ramping up deportations even more, rather than foreign military interventions in Venezuela and Iran.
“He’s veered off the America First train, I think,” she said. “So yeah, I’m a little disappointed in him.”
These days, Pope sees Trump as prioritizing the interests of billionaires over those of his constituents. She also points to his massive ballroom renovations and putting his name on the Kennedy Center as diversions from America First.
“Dude, we know you’re a narcissist, but really, you’re getting carried away,” she said.
Ron Dawson, 68, Eureka
Ron Dawson said he would give Trump’s performance in 2025 a B+. He feels his cost of living has improved since Trump took office, noting lower grocery and fuel prices. He still wants to see the president lower the federal deficit.
Dawson voted for Trump in 2024, but his preferred presidential candidate was Nikki Haley. He still favors the president over Kamala Harris.
President Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks to the press at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday following U.S. military actions in Venezuela. (Jim Watson | AFP via Getty Images)
Once a Democrat like his parents, Dawson said the last time he voted blue was for Bill Clinton in 1996. Since then, he’s felt like the Democratic Party has become elitist, prioritizing identity politics and social justice issues, which he said have “nothing to do with running a country.”
Before settling in Eureka six years ago, Dawson spent almost five decades in Southern California. He recalls working as a machinist in 1980 and losing the job to an immigrant.
“He could work cheaper than I would accept,” he said. “I have a problem with the system. The system I recognized way back then is really broken.”
Today, Dawson approves of Trump’s secure border platform.
Now living in far Northern California, Dawson is critical of Proposition 50 and the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District. Previously stretching from Marin County to the Oregon border, the new boundaries push further inland to the Nevada border, pulling in Siskiyou, Modoc and Shasta counties.
“Our congressional representative, Jared Huffman — he already has a very, very large district and a lot of people say, like, you never see him, never hear from him,” Dawson said. “They didn’t stop and think, how does this one guy represent such a large area?”
Those concerns deepened following the recent death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represented rural Northern California for more than a decade.
Mari Barke, Orange County
Mari Barke, president of the Orange County Board of Education, has mostly positive things to say about the president.
“He puts our country first, which to me is critically important of somebody who is president,” she said.
Mari Barke, photographed at the California Policy Center in Irvine in 2024. (Courtesy of Mari Barke)
Above all, she aligns with Trump’s education agenda, like his executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports and his push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from schools with DEI initiatives.
“I think it’s important to get rid of all the biases and just let people enter higher education based on merit,” Barke said, arguing that merit incentivizes students to work hard and reduces the likelihood of academic failure.
Barke is a staunch advocate for parental notification policies, which require school teachers and staff to notify parents if their child identifies as a gender other than what they were assigned at birth.
“I never think it’s a good idea to teach children to lie to their parents,” she said. “I think if a child is going through something like that, nothing is more important than having your parents’ love. I have a gay son who has a husband, and I love him to death, no matter who he is or what he decides.”
Despite her alignment with the administration, Barke occasionally finds fault with Trump’s delivery, suggesting he could behave “more presidential” so as not to offend people.