What we learned about the state of the Trump coalition in conversations with 50 voters this year

The voters who put President Donald Trump back in the White House last year still largely support him.

The voters who put President Donald Trump back in the White House last year still largely support him. But they are increasingly disagreeing with the president on issues like the economy and immigration, raising questions about the strength of his coalition heading into a midterm election year.

That’s the upshot of a year of focus group conversations diving into different key groups of Trump’s 2024 base of support, which were observed by NBC News and produced by Syracuse University and the research firms Engagious and Sago. The groups included more than 50 Black, Hispanic and young voters who voted for Trump, as well as Trump voters who decided to back Democrats in this year’s New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections.

Consistent themes emerged across those conversations with different groups of Trump voters in March, June, September and December.

Few are fully off the Trump train, though a handful are. A larger group, though, have started raising concerns, primarily around what they see as a lack of follow-through on tackling inflation and the cost of living, which were key reasons they voted for Trump in 2024. An overlapping group also balked at the administration’s deportation policies.

Add NBC News to GoogleDeciders focus group: Trump Latino voters split over mass deportation agenda but largely back him10:00And while voters in the focus groups during the first half of 2025 were almost unanimous in approving of Trump’s job performance, albeit with some hesitations, the drumbeat of frustration has grown louder as the year draws to a close.