{"id":152827,"date":"2026-01-28T05:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152827\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T05:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:02:23","slug":"1-year-in-california-trump-voters-take-stock-of-his-second-term-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152827\/","title":{"rendered":"1 year in, California Trump voters take stock of his second term"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year into President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second term, Californians who voted for him are mostly happy with how his policies have played out so far.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s support among California Republicans has slipped to 79%, down from 84% near the start of his term, according to a Public Policy Institute of California\u00a0poll<\/a> released last month.<\/p>\n

The survey found that Californians name the cost of living and the economy as the most important issues facing the state today. Those concerns also dominated follow-up conversations KQED had with voters first interviewed 100 days<\/a> into Trump\u2019s second administration. From Southern California and the Central Valley to the North Coast, seven voters offer a mixed review of Trump\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

They weigh in on a range of issues, including sweeping tariffs, immigration raids, National Guard deployments and a redistricting battle. While there is general support for his \u201cAmerica First\u201d platform, they are divided on whether the president\u2019s actions fulfill that mandate. Several also criticized Trump\u2019s rhetoric and tone.<\/p>\n

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Emerson Green, 26, El Dorado County<\/p>\n

Of all of his expectations for Trump\u2019s second term, Emerson Green had been most optimistic that the president would improve the economy. Instead, he said he\u2019s deeply disappointed and believes Trump let him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I never voted for him,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that he lied or he didn\u2019t hold up his promise. It is that he did the exact opposite, with intent, of what he promised he was going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Trump returned to the White House, Green got engaged and is expecting a baby in May. The 26-year-old now works at O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts after changing jobs twice last year. He said he\u2019s noticed the cost of some car parts rising because of tariffs, though not as dramatically as he expected when Trump announced his \u201cLiberation Day\u201d tariffs<\/a> last April.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emerson Green sits during a hike in Adams Canyon, Utah, on May 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Emerson Green<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also noticed everyday expenses like groceries and medication becoming more expensive and has begun to see home ownership as nearly unattainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of owning a house at this point in my life seems like something that is, if I even do it, it might be 30 years out at this point,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably as bleak as it gets for young people these days \u2026 and [Trump] has done nothing to improve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Green\u2019s mom received an offer letter for a job with the Internal Revenue Service, but when Trump issued a government hiring freeze, her offer was rescinded. It took her a couple of months to find another job, and she now works in funeral insurance sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is really struggling to make ends meet,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n

Beyond his dissatisfaction with the economy, Green is most critical of Trump\u2019s military intervention in Venezuela<\/a>, which he sees as veering away from the president\u2019s pledge to prioritize America first. On Jan. 3, Trump ordered U.S. forces to seize President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in a stunning extraction that resulted in Venezuela\u2019s leader facing federal charges in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see a strategic benefit to it at all,\u201d Green said. \u201cI do think he did it as, like, a stunt to boost his approval ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green also faults Trump for repeatedly delaying the release of the Epstein files<\/a>, then issuing heavily redacted documents despite vows on the campaign trail to declassify them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may as well have red hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ben Pino, 56, Los Angeles County<\/p>\n

Following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis over the weekend, Ben Pino still stands behind the administration\u2019s immigration tactics. The shooting marks the second killing this month of a Minneapolis resident during an operation after 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot in her car by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier in January.<\/p>\n

Pino believes Pretti and Good were \u201cantagonizing the feds,\u201d echoing statements<\/a> made by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who said Pretti approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and claimed, without evidence, that he attacked officers with intent to harm them.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Pino in his neighborhood in Los Angeles County on May 7, 2025.<\/p>\n

Video footage shows Pretti holding a phone, with his concealed gun removed from his waistband by an agent, before he was shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the loss of life is tragic. I think that those young people used poor judgment and got themselves killed,\u201d Pino said. \u201cI don\u2019t understand the outrage, to be quite honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pino lives in the Diamond District in Los Angeles and works in Carson. He supported Trump\u2019s decision to deploy thousands of California National Guard<\/a> troops to Southern California, without the governor\u2019s approval, to quell anti-ICE protests last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask me, ICE needed some kind of protection because people were going nuts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling<\/a> barring Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago without Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit surprised that they can take that kind of power away from the president of the United States. He is the ultimate leader of our country,\u201d Pino said.<\/p>\n

While he bristled at limits on the president\u2019s authority at home, Pino praised Trump for exercising that power abroad by ordering a military incursion into Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a president take an action like going into a foreign country, grabbing its Communist criminal leader and bringing them back to face trial,\u201d Pino said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most spectacular foreign policy events that I\u2019ve seen any American president make in my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pino, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, hopes Trump will intervene there, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Cuban American, I feel that direct U.S. intervention should happen if you want to protect something that\u2019s that close to your shores,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One year in, Pino remains fully on board with the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI approve of everything he\u2019s done so far,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a bigger fan now than you found me last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim Durham, 68, Sacramento County<\/p>\n

Kim Durham is thankful to have Trump in office, but wants to see him temper his rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he shoots himself in the foot by saying things he doesn\u2019t need to say,\u201d she said. \u201cDecorum could be utilized a little bit in public speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration ranks among Durham\u2019s top policy concerns, and she supports Trump\u2019s rapid push to secure the southern border as well as his aggressive approach to deportations<\/a>. Her daughter is a police officer, and Durham believes national media coverage has fueled hostility toward ICE that has spilled over to local law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kim Durham sits outside of an apartment she rents outside of Sacramento on May 6, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just infuriating to watch just regular people in uniforms \u2026 have to fight through angry mobs of cars,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In response to the killing of Pretti, Durham repeated Noem\u2019s rhetoric, blaming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for not coordinating with ICE.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019ve let ICE do the job that they\u2019ve been called to do, this wouldn\u2019t be happening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Durham would not condemn the individual officers involved, saying that a final judgment should come from the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no guarantee that individually every ICE agent is gonna act perfect,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t believe as a whole ICE is wrong. Or even necessarily overreaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durham also backs Trump\u2019s decision to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles, and said she wishes state leaders would cooperate with the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some that say he\u2019s a dictator. Well, no, he\u2019s not a dictator \u2014 we voted him in,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it would all be a lot better if we didn\u2019t resist the federal government and instead just got together and said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m with you \u2026 Let\u2019s sit down, work together and clean it up instead of fight it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On health care, Durham said she\u2019s 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<\/a> and additional paperwork demands that would shrink enrollment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly believe if all the fraud could be cut out of Medicaid and Medicare, we would be in a surplus of money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Durham also praised Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s Make America Healthy Again initiatives<\/a>, especially efforts to remove synthetic dyes<\/a> from the food supply and curb ultra-processed foods, raising concerns about what her grandchild eats. She\u2019s also in favor of his updated childhood vaccine schedule, calling the previous standard \u201cridiculous\u201d and saying families need choices.<\/p>\n

Cindy Cremona, 66, formerly San Diego County<\/p>\n

When Cindy Cremona heard about Proposition 50<\/a>, the November 2025 ballot measure approved by voters that redraws California\u2019s congressional maps, she felt Republicans would never have a voice in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for many, people just felt that it was going to lock in California as a blue state forever and ever,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cindy Cremona and her 12-year-old Andalusian horse, Durango, in San Marcos, California, on May 8, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, she reached her breaking point and decided to move, citing \u201cthe politics, the taxes, the over-regulation, the traffic, the overdevelopment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cremona finds Florida\u2019s housing costs and policies preferable to California\u2019s. For instance, she took issue with last year\u2019s passing of SB 79<\/a>, which makes it easier to build apartment buildings near major public transit stops.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s optimistic about Trump\u2019s housing proposals, including a recent pledge to target institutional investors who buy up single-family homes. Newsom echoed a similar stance<\/a> toward corporate landlords in his State of the State address, a rare instance of political overlap between the Democratic governor and the president.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Cremona expressed confidence in the president\u2019s ability to deliver on other economic promises, like lower food and energy costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think 2026 is the year where we\u2019ll see some of those policies borne out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Debbie Pope, 60, Long Beach<\/p>\n

Debbie Pope is deeply disillusioned with Trump\u2019s first year back in office. At the beginning of 2025, she welcomed what she described as Trump\u2019s \u201cguns-a-blazing\u201d return. But her view shifted in the second half of the year, following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> and repeated delays in releasing the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a whole different view of Trump after that for some reason,\u201d she said. \u201cThe biggest disappointment is the Epstein files. It\u2019s just like, Trump, you\u2019re in them. You\u2019re in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Debbie Pope in her Long Beach home on May 10, 2024. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

\u00a0(Courtesy of Debbie Pope)<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

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\u2019s hardline stance on immigration, one of her top policy concerns.<\/p>\n

The daughter of a Nicaraguan immigrant, Pope supports stricter border enforcement \u2014 and thinks Trump has failed to deliver on promises of mass deportations.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s veered off the America First train, I think,\u201d she said. \u201cSo yeah, I\u2019m a little disappointed in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Pope sees Trump as prioritizing the interests of billionaires over those of his constituents. She also points to his massive ballroom renovations<\/a> and putting his name on the Kennedy Center as diversions from America First.<\/p>\n

\u201cDude, we know you\u2019re a narcissist, but really, you\u2019re getting carried away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ron Dawson, 68, Eureka<\/p>\n

Ron Dawson said he would give Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Dawson voted for Trump in 2024, but his preferred presidential candidate was Nikki Haley. He still favors the president over Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n

Once a Democrat like his parents, Dawson said the last time he voted blue was for Bill Clinton in 1996. Since then, he\u2019s felt like the Democratic Party has become elitist<\/a>, prioritizing identity politics and social justice issues, which he said have \u201cnothing to do with running a country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could work cheaper than I would accept,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a problem with the system. The system I recognized way back then is really broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Dawson approves of Trump\u2019s secure border platform.<\/p>\n

Now living in far Northern California, Dawson is critical of Proposition 50 and the newly redrawn<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur congressional representative, Jared Huffman \u2014 he already has a very, very large district and a lot of people say, like, you never see him, never hear from him,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t stop and think, how does this one guy represent such a large area?\u201d<\/p>\n

Those concerns deepened following the recent death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa<\/a>, a Republican who represented rural Northern California for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Mari Barke, Orange County<\/p>\n

Mari Barke, president of the Orange County Board of Education, has mostly positive things to say about the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe puts our country first, which to me is critically important of somebody who is president,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mari Barke, photographed at the California Policy Center in Irvine in 2024.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Mari Barke)<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Above all, she aligns with Trump\u2019s education agenda, like his executive order<\/a> banning transgender athletes\u00a0from participating in girls\u2019<\/a> and women\u2019s sports and his push to eliminate\u00a0<\/a>diversity, equity and inclusion programs<\/a>. The administration has threatened to withhold federal funding<\/a> from schools with DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to get rid of all the biases and just let people enter higher education based on merit,\u201d Barke said, arguing that merit incentivizes students to work hard and reduces the likelihood of academic failure.<\/p>\n

Barke is a staunch advocate for parental notification policies<\/a>, which require school teachers and staff to notify parents if their child identifies as a gender other than what they were assigned at birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never think it\u2019s a good idea to teach children to lie to their parents,\u201d she said. \u201cI think if a child is going through something like that, nothing is more important than having your parents\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her alignment with the administration, Barke occasionally finds fault with Trump\u2019s delivery, suggesting he could behave \u201cmore presidential\u201d so as not to offend people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One year into President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, Californians who voted for him are mostly happy with how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1184,7,9,8,1748,51437,1519,6392],"class_list":["post-152827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-republicans","tag-satisfaction","tag-trump","tag-voters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}