More in Common’s landmark study, Beyond MAGA: A Profile of the Trump Coalition, is the most comprehensive segmentation study of 2024 Trump voters to date. Based on over 18,000 interviews, the study identifies four types of Trump voters, each with distinct values and motivations: MAGA Hardliners, Anti-Woke Conservatives, Mainline Republicans, and the Reluctant Right.
In January 2026, More in Common interviewed the Reluctant Right, a key group of 2024 Trump voters, about Minneapolis and immigration enforcement. Representing a fifth of President Trump’s coalition, the Reluctant Right are his least ideological and least loyal voters. They’re also the most concerned about his immigration policy. Highly aware and animated, the group had nuanced perspectives on immigration that challenge partisan caricatures.
Our six Reluctant Right Trump voters are Independents and Republicans alike, hailing from Connecticut to New Mexico. The transcript of our focus group is below and has been lightly edited for clarity.
All avatars are AI-generated based on demographic information and do not depict the likeness of actual focus group participants.
How would you describe President Trump’s immigration goals for the country today?
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
President Trump, he’s pretty up and down right now, but I still like his immigration laws. I think we need to keep a lot of those immigrants out there are freaking causing trouble and bringing the drugs in. That’s my opinion.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I second that opinion.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Personally, it’s a little extreme. I have a lot of empathy. So I live down by the border. Literally, I grew up … The wall is literally my backyard. So yeah, it’s a little extreme.
I have no problems with the immigration. The law really didn’t do nothing except affect the wildlife. People start crossing, drugs are still getting in. It was just a bunch of waste of money in my opinion.
But yeah, I mean, I support immigration, the laws and stuff like that. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. But as far as the tactics go, I mean, it could be done probably with more empathy.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
I think I lean more towards what you said. Yeah. It’s scary the broad strokes Trump’s taking within immigration. And I definitely am not in a position or have all the answers, but ideally on the service, I’d like to see a more controlled approach on how they handle immigration.
I think I heard Joseph talk about the dangers of drugs and violence, and I think it’s there. I just don’t think it’s all from immigration. And I think there’s good things that come out of immigration too. And so I just think there’s some middle ground on how to approach it.
Alondra nods
Paul
34-year-old white man · Independent · Reluctant Right · Connecticut
I also agree with Tim and Alondra as well. There’s a middle ground somewhere between too much and too little. So there’s got to be some kind of balanced way to do it.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. I personally think that if I had to write down what his goals were, I wouldn’t know clearly what the goals were other than by the actions that I’ve seen, which are extreme. So I agree. It’s just too extreme.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. Right now where I live, I live so close to the border right now. Right now I’m watching videos. There’s literally ICE are walking down the neighborhoods. They’re knocking on people’s doors and they’re, I guess, taking people’s … They’re invading people’s homes and they’re just taking them from their homes. I don’t know if that’s the right approach, but….
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. Yeah. I’m a US citizen and I feel like one day they’re going to come knock on my door. It just seems … I don’t know. It just seems like a dystopian novel that I might read and it’s hard to believe that we’re living in it.
Paul nods.
MODERATOR
A few people mentioned that the actions have maybe gone too far in a few instances, people knocking on doors. Is that something that you would blame President Trump for? Is that the head of ICE? Where are people seeing the blame land for some of this?
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I mean, who’s in charge of Homeland Security?
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Doesn’t the Trump Administration have the ability to kinda temper any large-scale ICE approach if it’s too overbearing and control it a little bit? Eventually, doesn’t all this fall under that government umbrella? And this is where I’m not too familiar with the differences of who’s overseeing what.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah. Is it Homeland Security? It’s running the ICE program.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Yeah, I looked it up. So, her name is Kristi Noem ––
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah, the head of Homeland Security, I think they’re in charge, not so much President Trump himself. That’s my opinion on that matter.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
I think most people equate what is happening with ICE and the extremeness of it with Trump and his tendency to lean towards extreme verbiage of whatever issue he’s trying to get in front of the media.
So to me, it seems like they’re not really blaming the head of ICE. They’re actually blaming Trump. And of course, the buck does stop with him. He could moderate it, but you’re right. Whoever said that we’re not seeing the benefit of [ICE], you’re right. We’re just hearing and seeing the bad side of it.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
I think Trump does that to himself. I mean, he ––
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
He involves himself in every single topic. So, it’s hard not to just go and say, “What’s Trump doing this time?”
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Oh yeah, absolutely. Laughs. He makes it so easy. Yeah, it’s unfortunate.
Group laughs.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I would say though, at some point, the ICE agents that are committing violent acts should be held accountable. Because at the end of the day, I may be told something by my boss, but it’s how I interpret it. I could be told, “You need to sell X amount of cars this month.” And I don’t, it’s on my behavior and my actions matter.
Minnesota and Media
Minnesota and Media
MODERATOR
Have people been following the events happening in Minnesota with ICE enforcement?
Everyone but Paul raises their hands.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I’m on the younger side. So for me, the distrust in media is kind of there because you get the Republican leaning media that says, “He had a gun, he was this, he was that, or she was doing da, da, da, da, da.” And then the Democrats are like, “This is murder.” And I’m like, “Okay, but there’s your side and your side, but what’s the truth? What is actually happening and why are they in Minnesota of all places to be?
Nods and laughter in the group.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Yeah. I don’t know if I’ve read every article out there, but I know there’s been top news about the unfortunate events that result in deaths, but I’m not seeing the flip side of the media on where the value [ICE is] adding is in terms of –– I think someone on this panel talked about pulling out the illegal people that are into drugs or violence and stuff.
I think the media’s popping up the deaths and not also kind of showing the other side of it too. So I think it’s one sided.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah, I agree. The media, they just pick whatever side you’re throwing at us. I said, because what I see, I see the ICE, mostly they coming in, like who’s saying Alondra was saying that freaking … They’re knocking on doors and taking advantage of people and doing that kind of stuff.
But as I said, but then you don’t hear the good stories about ICE that they come in and they’re keeping the drugs out and the cartels. So it’s like it’s two sided stories and it’s pretty much what we hear on the news and stuff. That’s what I get out of it.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
It might be farfetched, but maybe it’s because there is no good side of it. But I do feel like we’re getting taken advantage of, of seeing media purely on the unfortunate incidences where it results in deaths and we’re here to talk about whether the death was justified or not when … I think there’s another side to it.
MODERATOR
What are you seeing about what’s happening in Minnesota?
Paul
34-year-old white man · Independent · Reluctant Right · Connecticut
Well, I’m not seeing too much. I don’t really watch a lot of news, so I kind of stayed back from it. I’ve seen little tidbits here and there. As everyone else has said, it’s always the bad, never what the good is. It’s quite a bit one-sided.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
I guess from what I saw was just, I mean, there’s always going to be two sides to every story. He’s going to react a certain way based on probably what he was trained to do and she was probably just trying to get out of the situation, just like any driver probably would. So everybody has a different reaction to a certain situation. So that’s kind of my take on it. But at the same time, I mean, what were they doing in Minnesota?
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Thank you. I was thinking that same thing. What makes Minnesota a hotbed for this instead of any other large city in the United States? I’ve always been wondering that myself.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
I mean, it’s a border state. It’s just not –– it doesn’t border Mexico. It’s a border state.
MODERATOR
Do people know what Alondra is talking about? The protestor who was shot in her car, are people familiar with this situation?
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Okay. Well, see, there are a lot of Somalis in there over there and that ––
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah, a lot of them come through Canada. There are a lot of …
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of wondering why there’s ICE was in that area. Yeah, I was thinking about that. Border state.
MODERATOR
So Joseph, you’re saying that might be a reason why they’re in Minnesota.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Oh yeah, that’s what I was thinking.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
There was also another instance ––
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Are you talking about that fraud situation from the Somali, uh ––
Tim pauses.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Daycare providers?
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Daycare providers that were taking government funding. Okay. I just want to make sure I was on the same page.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
There was also the other incident with the little boy that I guess they followed him from the school.
MODERATOR
Are people familiar with this one?
Tim shakes his head. Joe nods.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah, I heard about that too. Yeah, I didn’t like that at all. I said they shouldn’t be above the laws. Laws have been written or a reason, and I think our Congress and Senate needs to get together and really push the laws. It’s not all about Trump. It’s about our country getting together as one. That’s what I believe.
Mary nods.
Alex Pretti
Alex Pretti
MODERATOR
In late January a man Alex Pretti, who was a 37-year-old from Minneapolis, was fatally shot by US Border Patrol agents. Are people familiar with this one?
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
I mean, it seems squarely unjust. Just there was no reason to kill the person, but if they were a person of interest, then there’s ways to manage that, but I don’t know.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I don’t know. I still think it’s lack of training. They hired too many people too fast, and now you got people in panic modes that they’re not … I don’t believe that they’re properly trained to handle these situations.
It’s, “Well, I need 80,000 of you. So you get a badge! And you get a badge! And you get a badge! And good luck out there friends.”
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Is this the one about the nurse that got shot? Others nod. Yeah. Okay. I know about this one. I heard most of them were hired over here in Texas down south and that they’re very pro-gun, trigger-happy.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Laughs. Sorry about that.
Alondra smiles. Joe laughs.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
That’s what I heard. I don’t know.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
That shined a spotlight on the ICE program up there, right? I think they did commit to taking a look at that incident, and then broadening out to look at their process and how they’re doing things.
I thought I read something like that. I don’t know if it was a result of the case you guys are talking about, like the nurse, or another one of them, but ––
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I think the body cams was Trump’s initiative. All ICE agents must wear body cameras now so that way everybody can review the footage and it’s not this person’s angle or this person’s angle or this is how I interpreted the situation. I think he said he wanted everyone to be body cam’ed up so there is no miscommunication anymore. We can see.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
When did that come out? I didn’t hear that one.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
It’s pretty recent. Second half of January. It was within the last week or two.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Okay. Yeah, that’s a good idea.
Protestors
Protestors
MODERATOR
What are people’s views on the protests against ICE?
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I’m fully supportive of it as long as you’re peaceful. There comes a point.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
A big difference between peaceful, and like I said, people, you don’t want to see what’s happening out there. I mean, probably people are throwing rocks at them and that kind of stuff going on and getting in your face. I mean, nobody wants somebody right here closing your face, yelling at you, calling you all kinds of bad names and talking about your family and that’s just not right either. The protestors need to take it down a level or two.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Yeah. Like I said, there’s a way to protest and then if you’re getting in their face, you’re pushing them, you’re stopping them from doing your job.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
They’re adding to the chaos. They’re raising the temperature and they’re just making it an impossible situation for an ICE agent to make a calm decision because it’s not a calm environment. So they’re making instantaneous decisions right there and they’re just adding fuel to that fire.
MODERATOR
Why do people think the protestors are there?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
To bring awareness, to advocate.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
I think a lot of them are bused in. They come from different states, and that’s what I get from them.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. I think a lot of them are paid to be there.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah. They’re paid to be there. They’re bused in. If you’re a protestor, that’s cool in your own little area, your own state, but when they bring in people from California and New York to these protests, I just think that’s wrong.
MODERATOR
Who are these people?
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. Any political topic, whether it’s the election, the right for life, just any hot topic you’re going to find – the No Kings rallies – all of these things that just pit everyone against each other. And there are people that are essentially professional because they get paid, but they go in and they are protesting. That’s their political expression, I guess.
MODERATOR
Does anyone think it’s like a conspiracy in a way? Is someone behind this?
Paul
34-year-old white man · Independent · Reluctant Right · Connecticut
Like paid actors or aggravators, like when the other thing, just aggravators get the crowd going. Yeah.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Agitators.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
I was going to say George Soros, he’s like the billionaire guy. I mean, he gets all these people rattled up and gets them with his money. He has that much money to pay people to really bust them and get them into that situation. That’s how I feel about the … Anybody else hear about the George Soros as now?
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I’ll look into it.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
I know during the election, that was a big discussion that he was one of the people funding the protests in various Republican rallies.
MODERATOR
The two protesters that we talked about that were killed, I think Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the woman in the car, and then the other protestor, do people think these were paid actors or things like that?
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
I don’t know where they were from. I’d like to know where they were from. That’d be nice to hear if they were really there.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I know that the nurse Alex lived in Minnesota, so he was local, but that Renee Good … And this could be … And I could be wrong, and I’m open to being wrong, they said she traveled in, but I don’t know.
As a mother, yes, I don’t always agree with everything, but I don’t think I’d ever put myself in a situation that I wasn’t coming home to my kids. Paul and Joe nod.
Like, I can have my opinions on things, but I don’t think I’d be out there getting in an officer’s face and then knowing that at one point it could just flip of a switch be done.
ICE Reforms
ICE Reforms
MODERATOR
Which of these comes closest to your view?
ICE needs no reform at all. It’s good as it is.
ICE needs a little bit of reform, but not too much.
ICE needs major reform.
Let’s get rid of ICE.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
ICE used to be trained a little bit better. I don’t know who trains those kind of people, but they need better training programs and ICE. I think the ICE program should still be around, but they need better training personnel to bring in.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
For me, ICE major reform.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
What reform are you looking for? Is it just more training and better handling of situations?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
I feel like they need more empathy.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
It’s like training your local police though. They’re making instantaneous decisions and it leads essentially the life or death situation. And it’s often hard to have empathy in those things because they’re fearing for their life and they’re there for a reason. And it’s hard to know how the people they’re trying to control are going to react. So it’s just an instantaneous decision and empathy is probably low on the scale when those things are … When you’re in the middle of trying to make those decisions.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
I get it. No, I totally understand. I mean, just their tactics in general. I mean, is it necessary to go knocking door to door people’s houses to peace? Is it necessary to pretend to be army recruiters taking their cards and entertaining these kids and pretending to be army recruiters to get information of their families and tricking them into these situations? Is it necessary to follow a five-year-old kid from school asking them where their parents live? Is it necessary for the public to be hiding in their homes and not be able to drive?
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. It’s tearing families apart. It’s just besides the extreme violence that we see with protesting, at the base of it, it’s tearing families apart.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. And I mean, there’s pepper spray. There’s those bolt guns. I don’t even know what they’re called ––
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Tasers.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Tasers. There you go. I mean, there’s other useful weapons than just automatically going to a gun.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. But if we … I mean, we just talked about the right to carry a weapon to a protest. What if the other people have guns and all you’ve got is pepper spray?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Right. I mean, I have nothing against guns. I mean, a gun can save a life. Agreed.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
I’m not saying they shouldn’t end up using them a lot.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
But they can carry multiple accessories. It’s just, let me save the gun for last. I don’t know if they have a gun, right? Pull out your gun. But it’s one of those where it comes to the training.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. And we don’t hear about the process of when they approach this person, this happened first. They engage the person to try to deescalate. We don’t hear about that type of interaction. All we hear about is the end, what happened in the end, and we just can’t believe it.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Yeah. I think they’re in need of a major reform from the options you gave us. They’re fairly young enforcement government entity. I mean, they’ve been around for 20 years, and I’ve heard more about them in the last year and a half to two years than that entire 20 years. And I question if they’re the right group to do what they’re being asked to do. And if they are great, they need some massive training overhauls.
Otherwise, I think they need to relook at their core function and their goal and if they’re being used for the right thing.
And why are we hearing so much in the media about them in the last two years when I haven’t heard that much in the last 20 years? So that’s kind of where I’m at with that. And I know I’m in Colorado, so I’m not a border state and I may be missing a lot and ignorant on the topic, but that’s what I see from what I’ve been reading in the news.
MODERATOR
Are people frustrated with Trump? Has this gone too far, I’m done with Trump? Or are people more so like he’s doing a great job, but not at this at the moment? Or maybe this isn’t 100% his fault, but he’s going to figure out how to run it better later. Where do people stand on that?
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I don’t think we have later. I mean, we have two deaths. It is now. We need to figure it out now because I don’t think, in my opinion, his goal was to have people be murdered. I hope that wasn’t his goal. I hope that’s not ICE’s goal. I think the goal was to get people who do commit violent crimes and drugs and all of those problems out.
But I’m also at the point now where I’m like, the ICE agents need to be held accountable for their actions. They are the ones with the gun in their hand, not Donald Trump. Department of Homeland Security needs to potentially find a new job because I don’t think it’s working out because I don’t like to hear that people are scared to go out. I don’t want to live in a country where people are afraid to go and get dinner one night because they don’t know what’s coming. That’s not the America, one, Trump promised and two, the one I want to live in.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
I think whether or not we’re hearing the whole story, it’s Trump’s job as president to make sure we understand the full story. And so from that perspective –– is he doing a good job? I think he owes us more and not just one-sided parts of the story.
MODERATOR
What are the qualifications or traits or screenings you think is necessary to become an ICE officer?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Well, I know that they needed a lot of ICE agents in a very short time span, so I don’t think they really had the train that they needed just to fill in that gap. I know the requirements for border patrol is harder to get in because they have to take a lie detector test and a lot of people don’t pass it for that reason. So I don’t know what the requirements are, to be honest, but I just know that they had to fill in this gap. And so I don’t think they got the training that they needed.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Yeah, I agree right there. You need the training to say, I got friends that are state police, sheriffs in this area. Like Alondra said, they have to do the lie detector test, they’re really trained how to do their job. They just don’t pull out their gun and start shooting people or beat people right away. They’re supposed to be trained for the proper responses at a time.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Maybe it’s a little bit ahead of training too and reevaluating the interview and application process. I think from what I heard from Alondra, they may have asked a wide net to fill a gap, but they need to go back and revisit that and have some similar guardrails that they have for other positions like border patrol or police officers or something like that.
MODERATOR
Has immigration has affected any of you personally, maybe someone in your community or own family?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. I grew up on [REDACTED]. So literally before the wall was built, people would just cross over and they would use the payphone to call and have people pick them up. So now that the wall’s built there, you can’t do that anymore. But yeah, it’s not my backyard, but it’s the front of one of the corner market. There’s a corner market, and so it’s like the wall’s right in front of it. So it’s like my front yard, I guess, in a sense.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
So Alondra, when the Democrats got back into the office in 2020, did they take it down and then they erected it back when Trump got back into office?
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
No.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Okay. Because I was under the impression they were just out, the Democrats were taking it down. So I thought it was still there, so okay.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
No, it’s there. If you get close to it and try to take pictures, the Border Patrol comes right away.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah, I wouldn’t do that.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
And growing up for fun, we would duck down and the Border Patrol would stop you and then we would just be like, “Oh, American citizen.” That was kind of our thing.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
So you’re not going to go and put us on the camera with the wall? We’re talking about Donald Trump. Laughs. “Join in!”
Messages to President Trump and Democrats
Messages to President Trump and Democrats
MODERATOR
What do you wish President Trump was doing right now? What would be your message to him?
Paul
34-year-old white man · Independent · Reluctant Right · Connecticut
So far the ideas are great. There just need a better way of enforcing them or a better way of doing it.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
We keep talking about better training for ICE agents, but immigration is broader than just the enforcement agency. And I think we need to think longer term, even though he’s only got a few more years in office, imagine a world where everything he’s done in two years’ time, plus his [previous] four years before, gets reversed when the next administration comes in.
They’ve got to reach across the aisles and get a better way for the process for immigration. I understand we want to get the criminals out. That makes sense, but it just seems like they’re very shortsighted right now.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Donald Trump, you need to surround yourself with intelligent people, none of this yes men that you’ve been having this term. I feel you have a lot of yes people and you go find somebody that really knows what’s going on in the immigration and put the committee up there and let’s get it done.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
I like what Lisa said about bipartisanship. I think if this is going to work for the long term and maybe lessons learned from Trump’s current past from immigration standpoint, maybe he could reach across the aisle and find something that works for everyone. And then a lot of what I spoke to tonight was speculation based on what I read in a newspaper somewhere. And so I think just a little more awareness of the bigger picture from his perspective and gaps of what he’s trying to really work on to make it work the way he originally anticipated would help as well.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Yeah. I mean, bipartisanship is really important. I want to know that the House, the Senate, the President, the Supreme Court, they all can work together like adults. We put them there to act like adults. And sometimes I feel like on both sides, including Donald Trump, we don’t. And we go, “Well, I want what I want, and if you don’t give me what I want, then I’m going to stomp my feet.”
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Or shut the government down.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Yeah. Why? Why can’t we not just … There’s got to be a compromise somewhere along the line. There has to be. I’m sorry. This is not rocket science.
We all can have different opinions, but we all just had an adult conversation and we want, I would say, even on the Democratic side, they want to work with us. We all have the common goals of making America great. It’s how do we get there? What’s the blueprint look like and where do we need to fill it in?
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
Mary, I get the sense it’s all extremism these days. It’s either ––
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
Far right or you’re left.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
So anyway, sorry I interrupted.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
You’re good. No, I agree. It’s two extreme directions. And then I feel like we’re a good group of the middle of the road people where we all can say, “I can see the Democratic side and I can see the Republican side.” And we need more people who can go, “Yeah, that makes sense. I hear you. How do we get there though? What’s the plan look like?”
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
I guess it’s all a learning experience. You went a little too far. I see you’re backing down, which is good. I like that we’re getting a lot of criminals out and I think we could do better and I hope we can do better. And there’s always going to be two sides to every story. Being a president is hard. I wouldn’t want to be president, that’s for sure. So I guess we’ll see what the future has for us.
MODERATOR
What do you wish Democratic politicians were doing right now? What would be your message to them?
Paul
34-year-old white man · Independent · Reluctant Right · Connecticut
As everyone else has repeated, pretty much reach over to the other aisle, reach towards the center, find a center base to come and meet together, to be able to come to an agreement with both sides.
Lisa
58-year-old Hispanic woman · Republican · Reluctant Right · Texas
Yeah. So I think at this point, we just get into the same cycle where the Democrats are trying to find their next candidate for president. And I think the extreme parts of the parties are relying on the divisiveness that’s been growing in America since 2016. Unfortunately, I don’t see a lot of well-spoken, true career politicians that are really going for make America great again. It’s hard for them to be unbiased, but I wish there would be someone in America, a group of people that would be those people. Whether they’re independent, Republican, it’s got to be the right person.
Tim
49-year-old white man · Republican · Reluctant Right · Colorado
In my opinion, what I see is Democrats take a softer approach and leave a lot of loose ends. Republicans take a more direct approach and also leave a loose ends. I think there’s lessons learned on both sides. I think from a perspective of Democrats, they could learn to harden their approach a little more while still delivering a soft message or however they want to do it. But I think removing some of that extremism and not being so soft in the topic of immigration might help. So maybe just holding firm on some hard processes. And I mean, like I said, in the Republican side, it’s exactly the opposite. I think they maybe need to soften the blow in some areas just to show some collaborative effort and working together.
Joe
46-year-old Hispanic man · Republican · Reluctant Right · New Mexico
Okay, Democrats, this is what you need to do first off. Get away from the communists’ party, the socialist party. You need to go back to the maybe Bill Clinton days or something where frequent Democrats were true Democrats and they weren’t about freaking socialism, communism. Pull your heads all your asses and let’s do this.
Mary
31-year-old white woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Michigan
I always go back to the vice presidential debate with Tim Waltz and JD Vance. I felt like that was what America needed to see. They both had similar goals. They just had different ways of obtaining it. So if I think we saw more of that across the aisles of like, so the end goal is this, but what path are we taking or can we intertwine our paths to get to this goal? That’s what I would want to see.
I think I know I’m younger. I always say that vice president debate made me excited for the next election because I saw two people with different views not bashing each other, but just communicating and agreeing. We have problems agreeing there is a solution. It’s just how do we get to the solution? So maybe take advice from Tim Walsh because he seems like a very nice man who wants to listen.
Alondra
43-year-old Hispanic woman · Independent · Reluctant Right · Texas
Maybe just take the political titles off the table and go in there open-minded. Yeah.
Related Webinars
Launch Webinar: Beyond MAGA: A Profile of the Trump Coalition
February 12, 2026
On January 20, 2026, More in Common US released Beyond MAGA, the largest study to date of President Trump’s 2024 coalition. Hear from the report’s authors about key findings from the landmark study.
What unites and divides Americans today? This newsletter takes a closer look at issues pressing on America’s social and political fabric and provides recommendations for how to strengthen ties to keep us bound together.
