'I shocked myself': NY Times' undecided voters give startling insight into why Trump won
Only two of 13 young undecided voters that the New York Times has been following for months decided to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris, they revealed Wednesday.
The Times and Republican pollster Franz Luntz conducted regular check ins with the voters throughout the election campaign, and barely any went for Harris. Some were even shocked by their own decisions.
"I shocked myself and voted for Trump – no one tell my family," said a woman who is identified only as McLane, a 25-year-old white woman who works in the legal field in the District of Columbia. "I was so impressed by J.D. Vance, the way he carried himself and how normal he appeared. I think I became radicalized on the men and women’s sports issue.
"The ad that said, 'Kamala represents they/them. Trump represents you' – that was so compelling. While Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me."
That anti-trans ad aired almost incessantly in the final weeks of the campaign and has been highlighted as a key to Trump's victory. The focus group participants who voted for him also cited his interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan as a factor in their decision.
"The Joe Rogan interview was huge for me," said Jack, a 22-year-old white man who works as an underwriter in New York. "Trump enthusiastically said yes to a three-hour, open, honest conversation with Joe Rogan, who was a former Bernie bro. I think it’s very telling about which candidate is authentic and which candidate is not."
Of the voters, seven decided to vote Trump. One voted for the Green Party's Jill Stein, while some wrote in candidates including ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Eight of the undecided voters said they had watched at least 30 minutes of the Rogan interview, and some of them faulted Harris for not accepting his invitation to sit down for an interview herself.
"I was looking for a candidate that I felt I could trust," said Laura, a 20-year-old legal intern from Maryland. "A key moment that stuck out to me was the 'S.N.L.' skit that Harris did, where she essentially made fun of herself. All her focus was going to entertainment industries and avoiding interviews. That came off to me as very phony."
Two respondents cited media coverage of Trump suggesting that Liz Cheney would not be a "radical war hawk" if she had "nine barrels shooting at her," which many perceived as a threat against the former GOP lawmaker who had campaigned with Harris.
"I saw how the media has become so corrupted in their cause against Trump," said Abigail, a 23-year-old white graduate assistant from Virginia. "There was that Trump clip of him saying: Put Cheney in front of a bunch of shooters. But he wasn’t actually implying Cheney should be shot. I cannot vote for an establishment that just thinks it’s OK to lie to us."