How Trump Voters in One Red County Think His Term Is Going

President Donald Trump’s poll numbers remain underwater, with a majority of Americans disapproving of his job performance. For many, his policies are anathema, prompting protests on almost a daily basis.

None of that feels especially relevant when you visit Potosi, Mo. Potosi, which is about 90 minutes southwest of St. Louis, is the county seat of Washington County, which gave 82 percent of its vote to Trump last fall. The county is largely rural, with a limestone quarry, a sawmill, a few cattle, a still functioning drive-in movie theater and lots of small houses keeping a respectful distance from each other along Highway 21.

People in Potosi and its surrounding communities think that Trump, eight months into his second term, is doing just great.

“He’s the only president in my lifetime that I feel has really done anything,” says Michael Hixson, who volunteered at a barbecue set up in the Life Church of Potosi parking lot last Saturday. “He is working nonstop, doing the right things — closing the border and the tariffs.”

Immigration and the economy are the issues most people interviewed in Potosi point to as Trump successes. Some mention his rollbacks of transgender rights or his stance on public safety as positives, including his decision to send the National Guard into selected cities. Several applaud him for standing up internationally to friends and foes alike. "At least he's keeping us strong," says Taylor, a man meeting several family members for lunch at the Hangout Bar & Grill. "Nobody wants to mess with us."

Most people don’t venture too deep into the weeds about specific policy areas. Mainly, they credit him for changing the country’s course after Joe Biden’s presidency, viewing his return to the White House as a true restoration. “It’s a process but it's gonna be like it was when he was in the first time, where the economy was going good,” says a man helping a friend pick up two bags of horse feed at Miller’s Feed and Pet who asked not to be named. “There wasn't no wars. Nobody messed with the United States.”

Other than a stray comment about Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and child sex offender — whose relationship with Trump remains a topic of active debate and investigation — few people in Potosi have anything critical to say about the president. Even people who say they are too busy or not interested in talking with a reporter offer comments along the lines of “Thank God he’s our president.”

“He’s kicking ass,” says Jim Wurst, a retired autoworker who flies a “Trump Country” flag at the end of his driveway. “He’s just leading the country in the right direction.”

Where Trump Gained Strength

Missouri was the great bellwether of the 20th century in national politics, voting for the presidential winner every four years except for 1956. The state is now solidly red. Trump has carried Missouri by a bit less than 20 percentage points in each of his three campaigns.

Trump’s performance in Washington County last fall was typical of his dominance of rural Missouri counties. Still, Washington County was not always so Republican. In fact, it’s one of only two counties in the country, along with Webster County, W.Va., that gave Trump more than 80 percent of its vote in 2020 and 2024 after having supported Barack Obama in 2008.

Some residents still have kind words for Obama, although they say he overpromised and underdelivered. They are harsher about Biden, contending he was too confused to run the country. Several people say that Democrats “gave too much money away,” although they don’t specify which programs they found wasteful.

“The biggest thing is the direction the Democratic Party has gone,” says Mike McGirl, a Republican who represents Washington and Franklin counties in the Missouri House. “The folks around here, they’re just working people. They want to make a living and they don’t want to be over-taxed and over-regulated but be left alone.”

Some Trump supporters in Potosi shy from being labeled Republican. “I’m not a hardcore Republican or Democrat,” says Shane Blair, who was filling up his Ford F-350 at a Casey’s and gives Trump credit for righting the economy.

Blair is a teacher. Asked about Trump’s education cuts, Blair says, “I don’t get into politics all that much. I really don’t.”

Who Gets Medicaid?

Saturday morning was cloudless in Potosi. The streets were not exactly crowded but there were several activities happening downtown before noon. A few vendors set up tables behind the courthouse for a farmer’s market. Across the street, a church group sang gospel numbers for a small cluster of listeners sitting on lawn chairs.

Between songs, a man who identifies himself only as Joe says, “I’m a firm believer in what God says. Anyone who curses Israel will be cursed. Anyone who blesses Israel will be blessed. So with him supporting Israel, that’s a big No. 1 for me.”

Joe says that Obamacare was a big mistake. Asked about Trump cutting Medicaid, Joe says, “I don’t think he’s going to cut Medicaid because too many people depend on it. Like me — I get my Medicaid cut, I have no insurance at all.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July, is projected to cut Medicaid spending by $900 billion. Some of his constituents are concerned about Medicaid cuts, Rep. McGirl says, but favor the new law’s work requirements.

“A lot of people feel like, if you’re a healthy individual, there should be some work requirements,” he says. “They’re talking about individuals who are healthy and able to work.”

Zach O’Neail, who lives in nearby Cadet, lost part of his right leg in a car accident a couple of years ago. “They told me I’d be in a wheelchair the rest of my life,” he says, standing outside his wife’s booth at the small antiques market. “And I was like, ‘I live in Washington County, Mo. — bro, hold my beer.’”

O’Neail says Trump is “doing a fantastic job” and calls for more tax cuts. Even though he’s disabled, he says he’s not concerned about Medicaid cuts.

“That didn’t really affect me too much,” he says. “I’m still able to get my prescriptions. I’m still able to get help with my canes and my fall alerts. It hurt a lot of people but I just wasn’t one.”

Immigration Politics

Washington County has fewer than 25,000 residents. Eighteen percent of them live in poverty. Red Wing Shoes and Purcell Tire and Rubber Co. have manufacturing facilities in the county but employ fewer than 500 people between them. Many residents commute east to neighboring St. Francois County to work in industrial jobs or up to the St. Louis suburbs to work in construction.

Across the nation, many Americans oppose foreign aid, saying the country should take care of its own first. Some people in Potosi advance a similar argument about immigration. (Less than 1 percent of Washington County residents are foreign born.) 

“If they’re here illegally, I think they need to be gone,” says Blair, the schoolteacher. “We’ve got too many American citizens that are homeless, and I think we should take care of our own in that aspect.”

Joseph Kriegesman, who lives on forest land outside of town, came to Potosi to visit the flea market. He’s taken off one of his work gloves to smoke a cigarette outside one of the town’s several antique stores.

During his 40 years running a construction company, Kriegesman says he used to hire many immigrant workers, “as long as they had their paperwork.” But he says Trump is right to “get rid of the illegals.”

A woman named Amy Gonzalez who’d been sitting nearby got up and walked away. She said she wasn’t upset by what Kriegesman said but is tired of hearing such attitudes expressed by her neighbors. Her husband is a legal resident from Mexico who failed the writing portion of the citizenship exam. “He’s completely legal,” she says. “He’s been here more than he was there.” 

Gonzalez is worried about him potentially being picked up and deported. “I’m scared now,” she says. “Now we're having to be purged in our own hometowns.”

Politics Dividing Neighbors

Even in a county that gave only 17 percent of its vote to Kamala Harris, there are Democrats. One woman from Caledonia, who asked not to be named, says she dislikes Trump and his policies but rarely speaks about that. “I have about five people in the county that I talk to about it,” she says. “You just avoid it.”

As Americans increasingly live in politically homogenous communities, they are apt to feel isolated if they occupy the wrong side of the political divide locally.

Wurst, the man with the Trump Country flag on his property, says he used to be a Democrat but feels that the party abandoned him with its changes in values. Now he takes some pleasure in razzing people who are still Democrats.

“I got pictures of Trump on my refrigerator,” he says. “It’s just to piss the people off who come by here who are Democrats.”

Not many people still visit who are Democrats, Wurst says. Asked if he missed any of then, he says, “They were not really friends, especially since they were so Democrat.”