Wisconsin is one of just a handful of swing states that could determine whether Democrat Joe Biden or Republican Donald Trump wins the presidential election on Nov. 5.
WUWM invited five conservative voters to our studios to discuss why they identify with the Republican Party, and what's motivating them this election. The conversation was recorded on June 26, the day before a presidential debate between Trump and Biden.
Through our election survey, WUWM has learned that Wisconsinites want to hear from people with different political views. These roundtables are one way we're hoping to help people better understand each other.
WUWM held a previous roundtable with a mix of conservative and liberal voters. You can listen to that conversation at the link below.
If you're interested in participating in a future voter roundtable, please fill out our election survey.
The roundtable was moderated by WUWM's Maayan Silver and Audrey Nowakowski. Here are some of the takeaways we heard from the voters — and please note these are the individuals' personal opinions. Participants' answers may be edited for clarity and length.
Alex Leykin
Lives in: Mequon
Age: 57
Occupation: Mortgage lender
"I am an immigrant in this country, a refugee from persecution back in the Soviet Union.
When I came over, I was very young, and I was a Democrat. There is a big difference in what the Democratic Party stood for back then and the leftism of today...They have gone to what I ran away from — a government that enforces political views upon the citizenry. We've become subjects of the government instead of the government working on behalf of the people.
Every person I know who escaped the Soviet Union — I don't know of any that are voting Democrat. What people are not seeing is that today's leftism is socialism. I see that the Democrat side is trying to drive what I escaped, and I'm fighting it.
I would crawl through any object to vote for Donald Trump. They convicted him of political crimes, political persecution in my opinion.
Jan. 6 was not an insurrection. That's a word the Democrats came up with to demonize the Republicans. I would hold the people who did violence accountable...all the other verbiage about it and the insurrection language is nonsense.
Just because the 2020 election was legit, do you think we should take away Trump's first amendment right to say it wasn't? It's his right to say."
Gissell Vera
Lives in: Milwaukee
Age: 23
Occupation: Consultant for non-profit
"It would be a difficult decision all the way up to the polls, but I would vote for Trump because under the Biden administration, my sisters' education has been jeopardy.
I am a beneficiary of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and my sisters now attend a charter school. Biden has been open about his lack of support for school choice and charter schools. Our education matters so much to us. We live in community where our schools are underperforming and these options are our way to escape generational poverty.
It is a difficult decision because I voted Democrat in the past. I was almost kind of taught that was the party that supported us. So thinking for myself and coming to understand why I wanted to vote differently this time has been a torn process, where I'm like am I betraying my community for thinking about my vote a little bit deeper?
I would like to have more options and a political climate that wasn't so hostile, but these are the options we have.
When I vote, I'm voting for [education] policy, not candidates. I am very hopeful that since Trump has expressed his support for education freedom, I would see that change during his term."
Rebecca Smith
Lives in: Cudahy
Age: 47
Occupation: Teacher
"I'm conservative because we all need the government to do certain things for us, but we don't need the government to be in our lives making decisions for us. I think a really good example is all the things that happened with COVID, when the government decided we're gonna shut down, and we're going to have mandates for vaccinations.
My husband [an immigrant from Costa Rica] came in the legal way. We had to wait out the process for him to get the permission to come in, to get a green card, to become a nationalized citizen. What we're seeing on the border — you know, we have people in the immigration system waiting for years and decades, but we're letting all these people we don't know into our country.
I feel that Trump had a successful four years and I was surprised he wasn't elected this last time around. Hopefully he will have a chance to finish what he started and do even more.
As far as Jan. 6 goes, my personal belief is that there is no connection between what Trump said or did and what the people did in the Capitol. He was accused of something he had no knowledge of and was not involved in."
Aleks Hromic
Lives in: Milwaukee
Age: 21
Occupation: Data analyst at Turning Point Action
"I believe in the true conservative grassroots: America having a secure border, limited government, low taxes, freedom of speech, freedom to own guns.
I'm voting for Donald J. Trump. I believe he entails the grassroots conservative movement extremely well and his four years in office were a huge success, so he's got my vote.
Generally the Republican Party as a whole is becoming a lot stronger. Conservatives are starting to wake up and realize they can't sit in the back and not share their voice. I've seen that at Marquette [where Hromic was a student].
Trump is not a threat to democracy. Us conservatives and Trump believe in fair elections. You should have a voter ID when you go to vote. I don't think that's against democracy.
I'm looking forward to seeing all the young people [at the RNC in Milwaukee]. Because our generation is about to become the largest voting population. So I think it's going to be good to get those young voters out there and get them ready to start voting."
Greg Canady
Lives in: Milwaukee
Age: 56
Occupation: Retired, active in community service
"I think people are looking for change.
To me, conservatism means to conserve certain ideas, certain institutions, certain successful models. To hold on to what we've done right — and it's why I'm a conservative.
When things are going good, we tend to move away from the things that we should conserve. I support Donald Trump.
I'm giggly about [the RNC coming to Milwaukee]. I just think it's a good thing for the city overall. It shines an international spotlight, to be trusted with so many people coming in. So many people that want to preserve and conserve traditional values."
Nadya Kelly, Xcaret Nuñez, Ann-Elise Henzl, and Jason Rieve contributed to planning and production of the voter roundtable.
