Americans on Why They Rejected Trump’s Republican Party

From Texas to Maine, Democratic voters thronged to the polls on Tuesday. Independents turned their backs on President Trump. And Republicans seemed to be slipping out of the thrall of a president who has defined American politics for a decade.

In interviews and at the ballot box, voters declared that they were unhappy with the way things were going in their country and wanted a change.

In 2024, Joshua Buchanan, 39, a train-design engineer in Woodruff, S.C., voted for Mr. Trump. Two years later, he had regrets.

“I probably made the wrong choice,” said Mr. Buchanan, who this time voted for Annie Andrews, the Democratic candidate for Senate. Her victory over the Trump-endorsed Republican, Darline Graham, would have been unimaginable not that long ago.

Donald Trump took the American political system by storm a decade ago, electrifying working-class voters with his hard-edge populist message. But as the back half of his second term draws near, his job approval has collapsed under the weight of unpopular economic policies and a war with Iran.

Democrats, who were dejected just two years ago, vibrated with fury — and determination to go to the polls. The actual candidates for governor, Senate or the House could seem almost secondary.