America divided: the women who vote for Trump | FT Film

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Make America great again! Woo! President Trump! Ah!

Get down, get down, get down, get down.

Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.

You don't necessarily need a friend in the leader of the free world. You need somebody that's quick and decisive.

I was a secret Trump supporter for many years, but I actually did have to get a whole new set of friends eventually.

Somebody said, women don't like Donald Trump. I said, I think that's wrong. I think they love me. I love them.

How can they say that he's racist when he's not?

Any Republican woman or any American woman, I wish they'd listen to some of those stories about who he is. He's gracious. He's incredibly thoughtful.

I love Trump. But sometimes he needs to learn to shut his mouth.

I've been covering US elections for decades, and I've been voting in them for 50 years. I have never seen anything like this. My country is split in half. And these days, we don't just dislike each other, we hate each other.

So we've come to the battleground state of Wisconsin to try to understand that division. We're setting out to explore an area where tensions are highest, the women's vote. I want to meet the Trump-voting women to hear first-hand why they're standing behind him despite his sexual exploits, his legal troubles, and his abortion politics.

Look, if...

I start my journey back in July, when Biden is still in the running - just - not long after his disastrous presidential debate.

Veronica Diaz is a Mexican-American, not your traditional Trump supporter, but as a woman and a Latina in a swing state, her vote really counts.

I am a Trump supporter. I've very proudly a Trump supporter. And I think a lot of people are afraid to admit it, but I'm not.

Veronica believes in the American dream. Nowadays, she's a community activist and talk radio host. But she was raised by a single mother who worked two jobs. After high school, Veronica won a scholarship that saw her working as a powertrain technician at Harley-Davidson, one of Wisconsin's best-known exports.

Growing up, we were part of politics during the best times. We were under the Ronald Reagan era. So life was good, economy was good. There were jobs. It was safe. And you voted for who you wanted to. There wasn't this bullying that you see now. You have to hide who you vote for because you're going to be called out, or people are going to be triggered, or they're going to embarrass you, and in some cases even shut down because of what your beliefs are.

In November's election, for the first time in US history, as many as one in seven eligible voters will come from Latino communities like this one. Nationally, the Latino share of voters has nearly doubled since 2000. Like most other Americans, Veronica's key concern is the economy. But...

Isn't it difficult for you to vote for the Republican party, given that your great grandparents were migrant workers, but you're voting for a party where the top of their platform is a massive deportation of immigrants?

A lot of the illegal immigrants that come into this country sometimes are treated a little bit better than their own people that live in their community that need help, Patti. They need help. There's a lot of people here that are homeless. There's a lot of people here that are struggling. You can't always get everything for free.

Do I believe in having help and assistance? Absolutely. But you have to work for it and you have to do it the right way.

Veronica's keen to point out she doesn't 100 per cent agree with Trump or how he expresses himself.

I said, these people are coming in from prisons and jails. Nobody listened to me. They're murderers. They're drug dealers.

But I find it hard to square her support with his language around immigrants from Latin America. Isn't he racist?

How can they say that he's racist when he's not. I mean, I've helped a lot of different people in the community. And you really think that I would support somebody that was going to talk bad about my people and not be for the people and my culture? No, absolutely not. He's not racist.

Racist or not racist, it never ceases to amaze me how two people, one a Democrat and one a Republican, can watch the same debate, listen to the same speech, see the same evidence, and come away with two such diametrically opposed versions of what they both call truth.

If Veronica is a non-typical Trump supporter, Ali is more of a die-hard. We meet her just two days after a lone gunman attempts to assassinate the former president. Back in 2012, she was watching The Apprentice.

And I remember saying, this guy would make a really good president. And all of my conservative friends were like, you're crazy. He's a populist. He's this, he's that. And I was like, no, no, no, you need to watch him. He reminds me very much of my father who was... worked for Fortune 500s. He was the president of a company. And the cold, hard fact is, he's not coming over for dinner.

You don't necessarily need a friend in the leader of the free world. You need somebody that's quick and decisive and will stand our ground, like he did on Saturday night.

Let me get my shoes on.

Hold onto your head.

And he stood up and his natural instinct was to scream, fight. That's what we need.

Yeah, I did somewhat wonder whether that isn't another sign of him being a little bit unbalanced, though, because of...

Oh, no.

Well, it's just that it's not smart to stand up after something like that happens.

He doesn't stand up until they say, OK, you can go. He's very stable. I've met him more than once. The stability issue is on the other side.

We're used to hearing Democrats blame Trump for inciting the attacks on the US Capitol on January 6. But Ali is among Republicans now blaming the Democrats for inciting violence and hatred against Trump.

It's good versus evil now. For the past nine years of President Trump's life, the left has called for violence against him. The media has picked up on it. And they've propagated these lies against him that people start to believe, and that he's this, and he's that, and he's going to destroy America.

Ali is Christian and believes Trump was saved by divine intervention. She's anti-abortion, anti-woke, pro-Second Amendment gun rights. And she also believes Donald Trump is the greatest president of all time. The main reason, closing the border. After the economy, immigration is the biggest issue for Republican voters.

I have a daughter. I'm not going to say where she is, but she's in college, and she's down in a border town. Every day, I'm checking, where is she? And then I'll text her. And I'm like, hey, where are you?

Tell me more about why that is that you check her GPS.

Because we have fentanyl, and murderers, and rapists, and terrorists pouring across the border unchecked. They can just walk in.

This is an axiom of faith for every Trump supporter that I know. But there seems to be no research to support the idea that immigration is linked to higher levels of crime. In fact, the opposite. Many Trump supporters also brush off the idea that the way he talks about women is offensive.

Hey, when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

Whatever you want.

Grab them by the pussy.

I grew up in an era when crude talk was common, so I wasn't particularly shocked, for example, by the infamous leaked audio. But what about Ali?

When I'm alone with my friends, I'll drop some F-bombs and do all kinds of things. And...

Is there any tension for you as a woman in listening to him talk like that?

No.

Why not?

Because that's how boys talk in the locker room. So he said something in private. Who cares?

Ali is in town during the Republican National Convention. She's the kind of Trump supporter who's oh, so easy to dismiss for people who don't agree with her politically. In my opinion, that would be a mistake. She believes what she believes as fiercely as any Democrat believes the opposite.

USA! USA! USA!

The many women speakers here are keen to paint Trump in a new light.

USA!

Kellyanne Conway points out that in 2016 Trump made her the first successful female presidential campaign manager and burnishes his feminist credentials.

Show me a C-suite in America where five working moms of 19 young children could have the highest rank in the company and work alongside the president.

First Trump the feminist, then Trump the family man.

I know him for who he is. He's very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country. And he will fight every single day to make America great again.

Thank you very much.

Normally Republican national conventions, they're not that exciting. But this year has been really crazy. Republicans really feel like this is a turning point. They feel like everything is going their way and they can't lose.

Let's not forget, this is all taking place before Biden drops out. But Republican strategist Brett O'Donnell believes the assassination attempt is a definitive moment for Trump's campaign.

Remember that Ronald Reagan got a considerable jump in his polling after the assassination attempt on him. We tend to rally around individuals when they're attacked, and this had a feel like that, and even a feel like post 9/11 when George W Bush stood on the mounds of rubble with first responders, with the flag in the background, and the fire helmets on. And that picture of Donald Trump will become iconic, I think, in this election.

I was a secret Trump supporter for many years. I came from a very Democrat progressive circle. And so I didn't want anybody to know who I actually was voting for because I did not want to be ostracised from my friend group. And I actually did have to get a whole new set of friends eventually.

Away from the convention, I meet Amy Teutenberg. She's exactly the kind of voter who, against all the odds, helped bring Trump the presidency in 2016 and could do the same again this year. She's a Trump Democrat.

Amy grew up in a Democratic blue collar family. She protested against George Bush and the Iraq war. She held a dorm party when President Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Congratulations, Mr President.

But since the mid-2010s, she was also secretly attracted to Donald Trump's way of viewing the world.

Because they're using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China.

Most of my extended family and my grandpa, uncles, they're all blue collar union, proud union men in the trades. I don't think we had any Republicans ever until Donald Trump came along and some... half of them split off for Donald Trump.

Half of them?

Yeah.

Not the other half.

Some conflicts at some holidays.

When Trump talked about protecting US jobs by curbing trade with China or putting an end to the unchecked, unmanaged migration over the southern border, Amy sat up and listened. But for Amy, whether it's Trump or someone closer to home, it's clear that actions are more important than words.

I grew up hearing a lot of sexist language. I mean, I think even some of my uncles. But those were the people that... they were the providers. They were there. They would be there for you. I just remember my dad got laid off. Even though they had those views, they showed up. And so, they came and fixed our car and helped the family.

So I think if Donald Trump can do the job better and make the economy better for everybody, that's more important than the language.

So it's not a deal-breaker for you, how he talks about women?

No, I don't want war. And I want to be able to afford a house. So, I mean, I'm not going to date him. So I mean, it's either just how someone talks versus what somebody does and the policies they have.

Amy is now part of a group called Braver Angels, which encourages Democrats and Republicans to meet up and talk with the aim of depolarising America.

So how did you feel when Hillary Clinton called people like your uncles deplorables in 2016?

You could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.

That was really offensive, like really offensive. These are people, and they work hard. And these are people's family members.

And the whole point is getting people to vote.

I feel like Amy has really put into words what I've also been feeling. Democrats sometimes dismiss the other side as wacko or even subhuman, but that only stops us from properly trying to understand the alternative point of view.

Downstairs, there's an event that Veronica has arranged calling on people to register to vote. The guests include the family of a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead alongside his friend right after his birthday party. Wisconsin's Republican Senator Ron Johnson strikes a bipartisan note, quoting President Biden, to console the family.

He said, I can guarantee you that there will come a moment in your life when you hear the name of your loved one. It'll bring a smile to your face before it brings a tear to your eye.

When we speak afterwards, he describes polarisation as the greatest threat facing America.

So why are we so divided? Well, it's political figures, political groups, I would say identity politics, critical race theory. I would say DEI divides us on purpose. So don't let them do it.

I'm struck by how Republicans often accuse Democrats of using issues like DEI - diversity, equity, and inclusion - to stoke division. I'm also struck by some of the messaging on Trump's character.

Any Republican woman or any American woman who has questions about President Trump, I wish they'd listen to some of those stories about who he is. He's gracious. He's incredibly thoughtful. Probably most important of all, he just fervently loves his country. He didn't have to subject himself to this. He didn't have to run for office. He had a great life in 2016.

When we say Wisconsin is a battleground state, we shouldn't underestimate its importance. The US works on an electoral college system, and there really are just a handful of swing states that decide the winner.

In 2016 and in 2020, Wisconsin was the closest state that just barely made the winner the winner. Four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by less than one percentage point of the vote here. We are the tipping point and one of the most unpredictable states.

I want to visit Kenosha, because this is a bellwether county within a battleground state. In 2016, Trump won here by just over 200 votes. I'm meeting one of my old contacts, Erin. Over the years, she's helped me understand the local political landscape. She's on the county governing body and has also owned this auto repair shop with her husband Mike since 2006.

How do you think that the election could affect your business?

I think it will be positive. I just think the economy will start to turn around, because it did.

If President Trump wins?

Yes, if President Trump is elected. Things have changed so much for the worse, in my opinion. Number one, inflation. Back under Trump, I could buy a dozen eggs for $0.59. Now they're $2.50 a dozen. Milk was $2.19 a gallon. Now it's closer to $4.

If the economy is the biggest issue in the election, inflation is the biggest economic worry. It has gone up under Biden. But post-Covid, rising prices have been a worldwide problem. Still, many polls show Trump is favoured on the economy.

A customer joins the conversation. She's a Trump voter but does have some reservations.

...high on the thing. I love Trump, but sometimes he needs to learn to shut his mouth. He does not know how to do that sometimes. You walk away, bite your tongue.

Erin's been a Republican all her life. Like the other women I've talked to, she's a Christian, and she's anti-abortion. I thought the abortion issue might be a bigger deal in this election after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to a termination. Democrats still put it very high on their list of priorities, but Republicans at least seemed satisfied that, for now, abortion laws can be decided state by state.

Still, Trump doesn't strike me as particularly Christian. Isn't that a problem for voters? I asked Erin's daughter, Elinor, for her view.

Do you think he does have religious beliefs, though, President Trump? I'm not sure if he does or not.

I...

Or does it not matter to you?

It doesn't really matter to me. It's more issues that matter to me versus religious beliefs.

You're just starting out.

Yes.

This is such a mess.

I mean, how do you see the political life of the country developing from here on out?

I don't feel like our country is going to get any less divided politically. I also feel that eventually, my generation will come in and become senators and congressmen, and we'll remember what happened when we were young and start to realise that that was just awful and we need to work towards making it more united versus just throwing each other down endlessly.

It's really important that someone like Elinor, who is only 20 years old, is a Trump supporter. The conventional wisdom is that American young people are all Democrats, but it's just not true. Polls show around a third of the youth vote going for Trump.

They genuinely believed that he was sent here by God.

The idea that he turned his head at that last second, and that's the only...the reason why he wasn't killed.

Hi.

It's the day of Trump's convention speech.

Thank you so much for letting us come.

I join Erin and Elinor watching in rural Kenosha County. Here in the living room it's nice and homey. But in central Milwaukee, much more showbiz.

The way she dresses, she's always so elegant, too.

What you gonna do when Donald Trump and all the Trumpa-maniacs run wild on you, brother?

And now for the main event.

To the hills of Tennessee.

It's very Trump.

Yes.

Trump makes an uncharacteristic call for national unity.

To every citizen, whether you're a young or old, man or woman, Democrat, Republican, or independent, Black or white, Asian or Hispanic, I extend to you a hand of loyalty and of friendship. Together, we will lead America to new heights of greatness like the world has never seen before.

He promises to fix all the problems of the past decades.

Our borders will be totally secure. Our economy will soar. We will return law and order to our streets, patriotism to our schools. And importantly, we will restore peace, stability, and harmony all throughout the world.

So what do Erin and Elinor make of it?

Make America great again.

Very uplifting. And I think his message of unity will... people will really appreciate that.

What did you think of it overall?

I think it was nice to have him talk about more positive things versus just railing on Biden the whole time.

It's just really unrealistic to say he's going to do every single thing on day one.

But he didn't promise everything on day one. He promised drilling and building the wall, which he can do because, I mean, Biden stopped the Keystone Pipeline his first day.

Right.

And building the wall, I mean, that's all... all those plans are there and everything.

I think for me, Democrat or Republican, anything over about half an hour to an hour is really too much.

At least, I mean, when he's speaking he's engaging, and he's not just blabbing on, where after some of the speakers, after about five minutes, I'm like, OK, that's enough.

You can get carried away at a political convention. But they're not representative of the outside world, not by a long shot. Still, back in July, as the balloons descend, Republican confidence is, well, more than just hot air. The polls show Trump in the lead, heading for victory. Right?

If you were a betting man, who do you think's going to win?

Give me a quarter and I'll flip it for you. Fundamentally, we don't know what's going to happen over the next three and a half months. And the events of the last month ought to remind us of that.

President Joe Biden has just announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

When Charles says we don't know what's going to happen, he's right. In this case, Biden out, Kamala Harris in. Soon enough, the pundits are saying Harris, a former prosecutor, has Trump on the back foot.

So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type.

The Democratic national convention in August has a celebratory feel.

On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.

In August, most national polls now show Harris in the lead. But don't forget, it's the swing states that will win or lose it for her. And in Wisconsin, as well as the other swing states, it's still too close to call. In early September, I go back to Milwaukee to speak to the pollster Charles Franklin again. I want to ask him if having a woman candidate makes any difference for women voters.

Men are significantly preferring Trump over Harris. Women are significantly preferring Harris over Trump. But I think the question that we don't know the answer to is does the Harris advantage with women ultimately outweigh the Trump advantage with men, or does it work the other way with Trump solidifying his support with men perhaps more than Harris is able to do with women. Women rank the economy as one of their most important issues and see Trump as better on that issue.

Not everybody really thought that Kamala Harris would have what it takes, but she has really given the Democrats a big boost. But I wanted to know, does it make any difference to the women that I interviewed when Trump still looked like he was heading for a landslide?

First, I check in with Erin at the auto repair shop.

Hi, Patti. Come on in.

I want to know if she's at all impressed by Kamala Harris's plans to combat inflation. First up, a ban on price-gouging in the food sector to stop companies making excessive profits.

We've had that under Nixon. It didn't work. I think they kept it in place for about 90 days. It leads to shortages and businesses closing. It's just a ridiculous plan.

How about $25,000 in down payment funding for first time home-buyers, like her daughter, Elinor?

That just means that the price of a house is going to go up by $25,000.

Another problem she has is trust. She says Harris has changed her attitude on key policies like fracking and immigration.

So at the end of the day, how do you feel about this election now?

Vice-President Harris didn't get a single vote, and somehow she has become the nominee, and then the media is just fawning over her. What is odd is that she's only having the one debate and won't do any interviews. How are we supposed to learn what she's really about or who she really is?

Polls suggest the Latino vote was evenly split between Trump and Biden in July, but now has swung in favour of Harris. I wonder what impact she's made on Veronica, the radio host.

Hello?

Oh, Veronica? This is..

Yes.

This is Patti from the Financial Times. I just wanted to check back in with you because the last time we talked Biden had not stepped down yet. So now we have a new candidate and we sort of have a new world. And I just wondered what you were thinking about it. She's definitely not getting your vote, right?

Definitely not getting my vote. Something different doesn't mean that it's always good. I'm not trying to be petty or mean, but I think when she ran for president, there was a reason why she was the first one eliminated of the Democrats. She's not a likable person and she's not the most brilliant woman.

Amy is equally sceptical. She believes Harris has been remarketed as a viable candidate, even though she failed ignominiously in the 2019 primaries.

I thought her speech was really good on Thursday night of the DNC. It was very moving. But the fact is that she's been the VP for the past four years. And so it's like, how can I believe that any of this is true or going to happen?

She's trying to appeal to the same blue collar base that Trump is trying to appeal to.

That's what I saw at the DNC. And it's like, how much is this all just a sham, even for both sides. What will you both... now trying to appeal to this blue collar working class idea. And it's like, well, who... are you... how can you say that when Hillary and Bill Clinton are there. Bill Clinton, Nafta cost us millions of manufacturing middle class jobs that are never coming back. It changed society. It changed our country.

We're talking near the site of Rolling Mill in Milwaukee's Bay View area. In 1886, a local militia shot dead seven people here during a protest for an eight-hour working day. The location is significant because Amy clearly wants the government to put working people first, and she feels the Democratic party no longer does. Maybe that's one of the lessons here. Voters on both sides believe it's only their party that will put them first, make them count, take their beliefs seriously.

The Harris honeymoon fizzles out a little bit after the DNC, but then there's the debate with Trump in early September. There are no knockout blows, but she does seem to really get under his skin, in one instance laughing openly as Trump repeats an internet conspiracy theory about immigrants.

In Springfield, they're eating the dogs...

Oh, please.

...the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating... they're eating the pets of the people that live there.

You talk about extreme. His former Secretary of Defence has said the nation, the republic, would never survive another Trump term.

They've had three and a half years to fix the border. They've had three and a half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it?

I think they will walk through glass to vote for Trump.

I do like Trump's style, but it pisses a lot of people off.

I truly believe that America is freedom's last stop.

Standing on the shore of Lake Michigan, a long way from the political melee, I think back to where this film started, with Joe Biden's disastrous debate. We've come a long way in a short time. I still don't know who's going to win the election or what else might happen before the vote.

Breaking news, the FBI is now investigating a shooting in West Palm Beach as an attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump. This would be a second time.

But I might any closer to understanding Trump's women? For his supporters, his conspiracy theories, crude talk, views on abortion, that stuff isn't what really matters. What matters? Strength, immigration, and the cost of butter.

But also a sense of belonging in a world that makes sense to them, even if it doesn't make sense to the other side. The election on November 5 is approaching fast. But whoever wins, half the country will still think like the women I've been speaking to. We can ignore them, but we do so at our peril.