Republican voters turn out against Trump even though Ohio’s result looks pretty certain

NICK EVANS, Ohio Capital Journal — Republican Donald Trump was a controversial political figure even before he launched his first presidential campaign. He carries a well-publicized list of racist, sexist and bigoted remarks, not to mention a track record of abusing the power of his office. His unfiltered approach has been central to Trump’s appeal. Even if his supporters don’t fully embrace what he says, his willingness to say it has earned him a strong base of loyal supporters.

But it also turned off many Republican voters.

The “Never Trump” wing of the party was around from the beginning, but after his victory in 2016, many of those opponents fell into line. Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election has further fractured the party. Again, given time, many Republicans emerged.

But now in Trump’s third presidential campaign, a group of disaffected Republicans has crystallized into a group called: Republican Voters Against Trump. The group has the backing of the Republican Accountability PAC, an anti-Trump committee organized by prominent conservative figures such as Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol.

Part of their approach is to collect and share testimonials from Republican voters who will not support Trump. Ohio Capital Journal spoke with some of these voters about what led to their decision.

Nathan Price

Nathan Price is in his late 20s and lives in Kettering, Ohio. He grew up in a Republican family in the Republican community and voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He parted ways with the island after the January 6 rebellion.

“I had my Trump flag, my Trump mug, my hat, my socks; I had all my stuff,” he said. “Then January 6th happened and that night I put everything in a box and never looked back.”

His first big political memory is his mother picking him up from school to attend a John McCain rally. announced that he has chosen Sarah Palin as his vice president.

“I thought it was the coolest thing ever to go to something like that,” he explained.

Price still considers himself a Republican, but says he splits his votes fairly evenly between Democratic and Republican candidates. She and her husband are looking to adopt within the next few years. He worries that some in the GOP don’t want to see themselves as parents, pointing to the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Project agenda. Price spoke positively about U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-OH, but also said he was “very happy” to vote for Kamala Harris.

“I feel homeless,” he described, “And the longer this goes on, the more Democrat I will become.”

One thing he’s keeping his eye on is how the GOP will respond to winning or losing after Election Day.

He described how he was initially struck by Trump’s lack of filter, but realized how this was a political liability during his first term. Still, as the 2020 election approached, he saw Trump as a better option. Following Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, Price came to a crossroads and compared Trump’s self-aggrandizing rhetoric to a toxic relationship.

Price knows Trump has a good chance of winning in Ohio. But given the number of people in his orbit who have changed their minds about the former president, he believes the margins will be even narrower. Although he acknowledged that this was purely anecdotal, he argued that narrowing the gap could send a message.

“I think votes like these help show that the path the Republican Party has chosen with him is not the path that will help them win in the long run,” he said.

Dale Struble

Dale Struble is in his late 60s and lives in Troy. He describes himself as a retired educator. “I was a band director, a shop teacher, a special education teacher,” he said. Struble said Ronald Reagan drew him to the Republican Party, and he supported both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

“The idea of ​​small government, lower taxes, maybe fewer services,” he explained. “But I was the kind of person who took care of herself and felt that others should too.”

He voted for Trump in 2016 despite feeling “a little wary” of the candidate. The biggest red flag was the way Trump talked about John McCain.

“I wasn’t in the service, but I really have a lot of respect,” he said. “I realized the sacrifices that people had made, and my God, I knew his story and the sacrifices that he had made, and Trump not respecting him for that was the first sign that something was wrong.”

He can’t point to a specific breaking point, but he became disillusioned enough with Trump to vote for a Libertarian candidate in 2020. Like Price, he saw the January 6 riot as a breaking point.

“And not just this incident,” he said, “but the ‘big lie’ that led to this and all the lies that came out afterwards, saying these people were heroes and patriots. I mean, it still boggles my mind.”

As for where she stands now, Struble recalled identifying herself as a Liz Cheney Republican to a friend after Jan. 6.

“I’m still a Republican by state because I requested a vote for Nikki Haley in the (primary) ballot,” he explained. “So technically I’m a Republican. “To me, I am independent.”

The congressman said U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, R-OH, seemed like a nice guy, but Struble complained about that. it wasn’t clear About whether Trump wins in 2020. “And until Republicans say that simple truth, then I will vote Democrat,” he added. He said it was a bit confusing to support Kamala Harris after voting Republican for decades.

Struble acknowledged that they would probably disagree on many issues, “but overall I think you’re saying the right thing.”

Chris Gibbs

Chris Gibbs’ conversion occurred several years before Price’s or Struble’s, and he changed his mind much more publicity. Gibbs is in his late 60s and has been farming in Shelby County for decades. He began his political career in the early 1980s through the local farm bureau and eventually became chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party.

He currently leads the Shelby County Democratic Party.

Explaining how he got there, Gibbs stated that he was skeptical of Trump from the beginning. Him, The failure of immigration reform in 2013It signaled that the Tea Party would be a permanent political force. At this point he realized that he was at odds with his own party and resigned as district chairman but remained on the central committee.

“There was no way I was going to vote for Donald Trump in the primary if (20)16 came out, so I voted for Jeb Bush,” he explained.

As the general election approached, she still disliked Trump, but saw him as the lesser of two evils. “I wasn’t built to vote for another Clinton,” he said.

“I have finally justified voting for Donald Trump in 16,” he said, concluding: “There is nothing our Congress and our institutions cannot fix.” So what’s the crucial point? Boy, was I wrong.

Gibbs has previously expressed disappointment with Donald Trump’s decision to launch a trade war. These tariffs virtually guaranteed that other countries would retaliate by targeting the country’s “soft underbelly.”

“So what is this? “This is agriculture,” Gibbs insisted.

To make matters worse, Gibbs claimed the administration “raided our treasury and paid the difference as hush money to farmers.” The Market Facilitation Program he mentioned served as a boost for farmers who saw prices for crops like soybeans fall in response to the trade war. After all, The cost of the program is 23 billion dollars.

But Gibbs said he and Trump parted company about two months ago. The largest customs duty was imposed. It points to the upcoming summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018. The Russian leader has insisted that his country played no role in the 2016 elections. US intelligence agencies agreed Russian actors have embarked on a massive disinformation campaign.

“Trump then stood up and said I believed him,” Gibbs said. “My intelligence services, all 17 intelligence services, said, yes, they had an influential role in the 2016 elections, Russia was effective in disinformation, but I believe Putin is on my intelligence services. And at that moment I knew I was done. You don’t do this. “You don’t do that.”