Gerald and Wally are Black men who live in the suburbs of Atlanta. Both grew up voting for Democrats and voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Then in 2024, they switched to voting for President Trump.
Gerald, 51, is very happy with the president.
"Listen, I am so pro-Trump, people just don't even understand," said Gerald, sitting at the kitchen table he and his wife share with their blended family after a long day at work as a truck driver. "The dude is amazing because he's not following the script."
He gives Trump an A++ for his performance on the job. When asked the same question, Wally, 44, gave Trump an F.
"Like, what do we have that we can hang our hat on right now?" Wally asked rhetorically. "We have higher gas prices."
Gerald and Wally are among a dozen swing voters in swing states who have agreed to regularly speak with NPR over the next three years as part of a project we are calling Swing Shift. We agreed not to use their full names and commissioned an artist to illustrate portraits in order to allow them to speak more freely about politics, without being concerned facing personal or professional repercussions.
In political reporting, polls provide a snapshot in time. Focus groups and interviews in diners are typically one offs, where we can't delve too deeply into what any one voter is thinking. Swing Shift is an ongoing conversation with a group of voters who could be pivotal in both this year's midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
The participants live in swing states and don't always vote for the same party. Most of them voted for Biden in 2020 and then Trump in 2024. A couple swung in the other direction. At some point in the past decade, they have all voted for Trump.
"How they vote is how America will vote," said pollster Frank Luntz.
In a polarized country, these are the people who help decide elections. The goal is to really get to know these voters and how the issues dominating the national political conversation are playing out in their daily lives. Their stories are the stories of a critical piece of the electorate.
"This 7 percent of America that goes back and forth and not just back and forth between Republicans and Democrats – they'll vote for an independent candidate and they may not even vote. And that is the margin of success in the states and districts that matter," Luntz added.
So, how are these voters feeling? We will regularly check in with them, asking a baseline set of questions, including how they grade the president's performance (and that of Republicans and Democrats in Congress too). We also asked them one word or phrase to describe the current state of the country.
Gerald and Wally are the first Swing Shift voters we visited at home. Their reasons for supporting Trump and their views of his performance now couldn't be more different.
Wally can't think of a positive line item out of the Trump presidency.
"I think with Trump, we're just trying to weather this guy," Wally said. "We can't get to 2029 fast enough. The problem is what shape will we be in once we get there."
Wally sat in his backyard by a fire pit, near the swing set he said his kids are getting too big for. His family is financially secure, he has a good job in technology, but he wants a better country for his children. And he just can't see it.
"Everyone's drowning, and like we just need to come up for air," Wally said. "No one's really just trying to swim to shore. We're just trying to get our head or our noses above the water."
Is he surprised? Not really. He didn't have high expectations for a second Trump term, but he was fed up with the incremental change Democrats were offering. Trump enjoyed more Black voter support than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, according to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University.
In Feb. 2025, 36 percent of Black voters approved of the job Trump was doing as president. Today, that number has dropped to 26 percent. Wally's view of the American political system is dark. He believes the country needs to hit rock bottom, so he voted for maximum chaos. "I feel if people get mad enough, they'll force change," said Wally. "They'll force it somehow."
Wally said his wife was not on board with his political change or his nihilist view of what the country needs. Gerald's wife supported his shift and is right there with him, he said. And Gerald's vote in 2024 was a hopeful one. He swung to Trump after researching and doing more critical thinking.
"And to me critical thinking means, what if I'm wrong about what I've been told?" Gerald asked.
Gerald credits his children, too, with helping him challenge his views, especially as he learned more about history. Now, he said, he's never going back to the Democrats, even as he's lost friends over his pro-Trump social media posts.
He's a big fan of using AI and gets his news from YouTube, TikTok and ABC's World News with David Muir. For him, switching parties was like switching phones.
"I was a [Samsung] Galaxy phone user," he said.
And he was all in on the Galaxy until he picked up an iPhone. He pointed to the phone on the table in front of him.
"This thing is amazing. You know, when I find the truth out, you will not represent it better than I can. It's just how I am," Gerald said.
Gas prices are kicking his butt right now. His personal vehicle is a big dually pickup that takes diesel. But diesel is even more expensive than regular unleaded, so he's been trying to use his wife's car to get around when he can, to save money on fuel. Still, Gerald has faith in Trump, and said the current economic pain will be worth it if the threat from Iran is resolved.
"I just try to do the cutting back to do, to survive, 'til we make it through it," said Gerald. "It's like anything else. It's a season."
He uses apps to find discounts on gas and noted there are other ways to cut back, like not eating out at restaurants all the time. Or even eating less.
"Cook. Fast. I mean me and my wife have been fasting, and there's a lot of benefits, including one of those benefits is saving money on groceries," Gerald said.
The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds 8 in 10 Americans say the high price of gas is causing them economic strain. Nearly two-thirds blame Trump for those higher prices.
But these are sacrifices Gerald is willing to make. It hasn't soured his view of the president.
NPR's Lexie Schapitl and Bria Suggs contributed to this story.
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