(MILWAUKEE, W.I.) — The Republican National Convention is bringing a hoard of die-hard Donald Trump supporters from across the country to Wisconsin, where some residents are echoing they’re support for the former president.
At Milwaukee Public Market, ABC News asked local voters who they plan to support in the 2024 election.
“Donald Trump, 100%. I’ve been voting for him since 2016, and I’ll keep doing it till he stays alive,” said Joseph Savaglio, who grew up in Milwaukee and has lived here for decades. “Because he hasn’t changed his stance one bit on anything he’s started with, and he’s going to stay the same way till he goes.”
Savaglio said the issues that matter to him most are the economy and border security.
Mary Jo McBurney, a born-and-raised Milwaukeean, also said she is all in for Trump.
“We need to balance our checkbook,” she said. “In Washington, they don’t care what they spend our money on. And it’s not their money. It’s the people’s money. And they just act like it’s theirs. It’s okay. Spend it however they want, and it’s not fair. And I think I’ve always thought a businessperson should run the country.”
But for other residents of the city, Election Day is still months away and they’re minds are not yet made up. These are the voters that both President Joe Biden and former President Trump will have to vye for in the critical swing state that was determined by just 20,000 votes in the 2020 election.
Wayne Beckes, said he has not decided who he will vote for in 2024, and believed both Biden and Trump were too old to be president and didn’t support Vice President Kamala Harris.
The lack of choices, he said, means he will either look to go “third party or have to knuckle down to figure out which one of the other guys is going to get it.”
What is he looking for in a leader?
“Somebody decisive. Somebody that wants to take control of situations that need to be taken control of and make quick decisions and get things done,” he said.
Beckes said his top concerns as a voter were funds being sent overseas, as he’d like to see that money spent helping Americans, as well abortion rights and gun control. He said he supports a woman’s right to choose and would like to see some form of gun control passed.
Atlas, a 23-year-old who just moved to the area, expressed similar frustration about Biden and Trump being the major candidates.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “I think it’s insane. I just think, I wish anything else was happening, any other presidential candidates were possible.”
As things stand right now, she said she was leaning more toward Biden.
“I don’t see a world in which I vote for Trump, ever,” she said. “Because he’s a felon, he is sexist, misogynistic, has said racist comments.”
But she said she believes both are too “old to be president.”
Endia Frazier, a young Black voter, said she was trying to do research on different candidates and wasn’t supportive of either Trump or Biden.
“The candidates we have is just not up to par to what the United States really needs honestly,” she said, adding that an ideal candidate is someone younger who can understand the current issues most Americans are facing and someone they want to celebrate.
“I don’t want to just not use my vote because my vote has been fought for through generations. So I know my vote is very important, but the candidates that are presented to me right now, they suck, honestly.”
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