How Many Registered Republicans Voted For Trump

It'south estimated that more than than 159 million Americans bandage their ballots in the 2020 election — a charge per unit non seen in more than a century, and ane that provided the surest sign yet that the election was, in fact, a referendum on President Donald Trump's polarizing first term.

Get-out-the-vote campaigns emerged from every point forth the political spectrum: Celebrity endorsements for Trump and his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, proliferated on Twitter and Instagram; in Georgia, Stacey Abrams and a robust coalition of grassroots organizers helped turn the state blue for the starting time time in 25 years; GOP-aligned coalitions similar the Lincoln Project and Voters Against Trump bought upwardly TV ad infinite and rented billboards in Times Foursquare, all dedicated to lambasting the president.

Complicating an already high-stakes election was Trump's bluster and misinformation about mail-in voting, which ultimately didn't hinder a record number of mail-in, or absentee, ballots. An estimated 65 million votes were cast remotely, leading to a feat of counting that saw vote tabulators working tirelessly in the aftermath of Election Solar day before the race was chosen in Biden's favor.

But while the election has been decided — despite Trump'southward false claims to the opposite — many Americans have been left dislocated and on edge, trying to parse why some of their neighbors voted the way they did. Democrats don't understand why, for example, after four years of a presidency total of racist messaging and a botched response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 election wasn't a cleaner sweep for Biden. Republicans, meanwhile, want to know how they lost cardinal swing states they won four years agone.

Who were the Black and Latinx voters Trump picked up by a margin of 4 and three percentage points, respectively? Who were the Trump supporters who'd had enough of the chaos and switched to Biden in 2020? And what does all of this say virtually how much we know about what motivates people to vote?

The 2020 election represented a pivotal moment of political awakening for many thousands of Americans — a chance to find their vocalization, whether through voting across party lines or casting their ballot for the first time ever — in an ballot that promised to shape the contours of the state for decades to come. For some, the choice was politically motivated, just for others, the decision to vote was the upshot of a growing sense of social obligation, galvanized by the increasingly partisan soapbox playing out on social media.

"I had people who would become aroused with me when they found out that I had never voted earlier," Maggie Pearl, a 25-year-old from Brooklyn who voted for the showtime time in the 2020 election, told Vox. "I felt more social pressure this year than I've ever felt in the past. People would say, 'Why don't you care what happens to this land?' I remember it took seeing other people's passion, and the momentum it took to get Biden elected, to really turn me into someone who volition vote actively in the future."

Phonation spoke with seven first-time Democratic and Republican voters well-nigh what fabricated them cast their ballots. Here's what they had to say about their participation in what some have described as the virtually fraught election in American history. Interviews have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Those who voted for a Democratic president for the first fourth dimension

Nini Jones, 57, Orlando, Florida

"The shift for me was four years of listening to Trump's oral cavity"

I commonly vote for the Republican ticket — I've been a registered Republican for 30-plus years. I did vote for Trump in 2016, and the biggest affair for me then was that I wasn't a Hillary [Clinton] fan.

Most of the time, Black people are Democrats, simply for me, I'one thousand kind of a rebel — I have to inquiry and find things out for myself. I researched the Republican Party, and that's where I aligned on the economy, on immigration, and other things, so I chose to register as a Republican.

Nini Jones standing outside in front of tall green hedges. — Nini Jones

The shift for me was 4 years of listening to Trump's oral fissure. I couldn't practise it anymore — the way he degrades people, the divisiveness, the bullying, the racist talk, putting downwards women. Information technology just started to get to be also much.

He is attacking the Black community when it comes to the whole racial aspect of people getting gunned down in the streets by police officers. And when he gets up there and boasts almost how he's treated the Black community better than Abraham Lincoln — I only tin can't with this guy.

It felt important to me to vote in this election because if we had iv more than years of Trump, I remember we would've been deeply divided, where it would be about to the point of no return. "Make America Corking Once again," what does that mean? What does that envision? Are we going back to the '50s? The '30s? The 1800s? I just think America would've been going down a deep pit, and that there would exist a lot of suffering in this country if Trump were nevertheless at the captain.

I really take to be honest, I'k going to alter my party and register equally an independent at this betoken until I see what happens, because I merely can't stand for what I'm seeing happening in the Republican Party.

Gerard Harbison, 62, Lincoln, Nebraska

"This is a long-term shift for me; in that location's absolutely no style I'1000 e'er going back"

I'm a naturalized citizen, naturalized in 2003 from Ireland, and I registered as a Republican in 2004. In January 2020, I switched my registration.

When I outset came to Nebraska in 1992, a couple of my colleagues would say that the weird thing near Nebraska is that Republicans are actually to the left of the Democrats. It was a relatively moderate Republican Party when I got here, and information technology'south but shifted more and more to the right since so. In that location's an element of frog-humid in this: You're there and you're identifying with them and yous aren't noticing exactly how far they've pivoted.

Gerard Harbison sitting in his apartment wearing a Joe [Biden] t-shirt. — Gerard Harbison

Back in the 2000s, my colleagues in physics would inquire how I could support Republicans when they don't believe in development and then on, and I'd say, "Yep, there are quite a lot of them similar that, but there are a lot of Democrats who don't believe in GMOs or vaccines," and and then on. Just it actually isn't split so much anymore; the climate modify denial started getting to me, and apparently development deprival I recall is worse now than it was twenty years ago. And so Trump was nominated, and that sort of did it for me. I voted for Gary Johnson in 2016.

The Trump presidency was what made me discover the water had gotten hot, just if anyone thinks the GOP is simply about Trump, they're deluded — it'southward part of a general right-wing swing of the Republican Party that'south been going on for a long time. And then it was an election of not just what was incorrect with Trump just what was wrong with the GOP, who will say anything to get elected. I'm convinced they believe very little of what they really profess.

This is a long-term shift for me; there's absolutely no style I'thou ever going back. I think there'due south room for a reasonable conservative party in America, but I come across no evidence the GOP is irresolute or will change. It'south a near-fascist party right now, equally far as I'm concerned.

Kevin Nather, 33, Cleveland, Ohio

"This year I looked at Biden, and he seemed to legitimately care"

I'll be candid and say I voted for Trump dorsum in 2016. Quite honestly, I wasn't even sure and so how either candidate would perform, just I knew that I felt like nosotros needed a big change in this state. He had a groovy message: "Brand America Great Once more." Did I actually fall in and recall he was going to make everything better? No, only I was actually kind of hoping that he sincerely wanted to make a alter in the country.

Kevin Nather outdoors with the sky and clouds behind him. — Kevin Nather

However, over the years, I didn't become the feeling that he truly cared for the American people. It didn't seem similar he cared for anyone. I call back that was a large deciding factor going into this election, that I believed he seemed to cause a lot of division. This yr I looked at Biden, and he seemed to legitimately care.

I ultimately had a big divergence from the Republican group overall over the Covid response. I was on Facebook, and people were protesting having to wearable masks. I was trying to just say, "Hey, delight just be condom, we don't know what's going on with this," and I was called a bully, I was told that I was trying to accept away somebody'southward ramble rights by saying they should wearable a mask. I hate to generalize people, but a lot of the people that were protesting having to wear masks seemed similar they were following everything Donald Trump had to say. It was virtually like they praised this homo as a god, similar he was infallible.

For me, that was a big moment that really kind of clicked for me, and I just felt like I needed to sit back and reevaluate. I ended up really deleting Facebook a couple of months agone because it was simply too much.

Going forward, I think I'yard open to any candidate, just right now, with my thoughts and beliefs and ideas where they are, I'thou leaning more toward the Democrats. In the stop, politicians are e'er going to say a lot more than they're actually going to exercise, merely I want to run across people who truly care and who truly want to make America better.

Maggie Pearl, 25, Brooklyn, New York

"This election, I was living my truth style more I was 4 years ago"

I was 21 and in college in Omaha, Nebraska, during the last ballot, and you lot can imagine how conservative it is in that location. I had just recently come out to my family as gay, and they were kind of bourgeois also, and so I didn't want to just throw so much in their face about wanting to vote blue then — information technology would accept been like coming out to them a 2d time, in a style.

The candidates in that election only fabricated me feel like I would have been voting for the lesser of 2 evils, and then it didn't appeal to me too much. When Trump got elected, I also definitely felt like, "It's just going to be another old white guy — how much could things change, actually?"

This ballot, I was living my truth way more than I was four years ago. The main reason I voted was considering I want to go married, and I was afraid that if Trump won, I wouldn't be able to have that luxury.

I also felt like this ballot was higher-stakes than the 1 we had four years ago; this time, I felt unsure of what the aftermath would be, law-wise, and what it would mean for my personal life. If there were changes to same-sex activity spousal relationship or adoption rights … I'k thinking more than about my hereafter family, I guess, and that's really why I voted: to assistance myself, but also to aid others like me.

Those who voted for a Republican president for the showtime time

Jennifer, 43, Illinois

"I started listening to Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro, and they made a lot of sense to me"

I've ever voted Autonomous, and my family unit has always been Democrats; nosotros even so are. I voted for [Barack] Obama both years and loved him, and in 2016 I voted for Hillary Clinton.

Believe it or not, I did non make upward my mind to vote for Trump until the last couple of months. I've had Twitter forever, but I never used information technology for anything, and so I actually made a separate Twitter account a while back and simply followed conservatives. I started listening to Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro, and they made a lot of sense to me; I liked a lot of what they had to say.

When it comes to Biden, I was not happy with his tax charge per unit proposal. I don't agree with defunding the police, and that'south a large issue for me, and I know that a lot of Democrats are really pushing that. I've seen all of the rioting and the looting, and that'southward not Trump supporters that are doing that for the about part. I run across Biden and [Vice President-elect Kamala] Harris both kind of pandering to those guys, just like I see Trump pandering to the far correct. [Notation: Biden has repeatedly declined to support calls to defund the police, instead committing to investing in community projects and mental health resources that volition allow officers to do their jobs more efficiently.]

This ballot was a lot more polarized than ones we've had in the by. My mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, they're Never Trump; they'd vote for anyone as well Donald Trump. They would literally disown me if they plant out I support him, it's that bad.

Jennifer'due south final name is withheld to protect her anonymity.

Tyler Reeves, 29, Meridian, Idaho

"When people say that voting for Trump makes you a bad person, I tell them they don't really know who they're saying these things to"

I'chiliad 29 years old and had never voted in an ballot before this ane, so this was my kickoff fourth dimension ever voting.

I'grand non a very political person, and normally I try to stay away from political arguments and politics in general considering I don't desire to lose a friend. I mostly like to concur to disagree, and I always value friendship and family over politics. When it came to voting in past elections, I never actually had whatsoever involvement.

Tyler Reeves sitting outside in his backyard with bare trees, a wooden fence, and yellow leaves. — Tyler Reeves

Just this year, I decided that I wanted to go my voice out there and be heard. I was happy with the last four years of Trump's presidency, and I am a Christian, and so he's the candidate that most aligns with my values on abortion.

I practice think that the stakes are higher at present, and social media played a part in getting me out to vote. Celebrities like Chelsea Handler, Mark Ruffalo, and some others were just beingness really aggressive on Twitter about proverb, "You have to become vote this way." I'yard not the person that's going to expect upwardly to a glory and say, "Yep, I want your political advice." How I voted was a personal choice; I have my own voice and life.

When people say that voting for Trump makes you a bad person, I tell them they don't really know who they're saying these things to, especially when they're calling people racists and homophobes. I grew upwards with friends who were Blackness and Hispanic, I've had gay friends, and I'thou a quarter Hispanic myself, so getting those kinds of attacks really hurts. For me, existence honest almost my behavior is the simply style I know how to defend myself.

Mark Bailey, 62, New York City

"Voting for a Republican for the first time felt liberating to some caste"

My mother raised me to exist a Democrat, like near all Black people are raised. So it'southward only recently that I started to identify with the Republican Party.

The Democratic ideology has changed a lot over the past few years, and at present information technology's been taken over by so-called progressives. I feel that the Democrats' platform regarding ballgame is irresponsible, and I feel that their policies of trying to do everything for everybody where no 1 completely gets help is a farce. I have grown up in poverty my entire life, only every election twelvemonth, peculiarly presidential election years, we Blacks vote for the Autonomous candidates mindlessly without accounting whether they've done anything to assistance us or whether they deserve our vote. Our condition has not improved since the '70s, only we keep to vote for them.

Voting for a Republican for the showtime time felt liberating to some degree. Like I said, Black people are basically raised to vote Democrat. I got a lot of flak for saying I liked Trump from relatives, long-lost relatives fifty-fifty. I had one relative that I connected with recently on Facebook, and we started chatting and reminiscing, and equally soon as I mentioned I supported Trump, boom — I was blocked.

I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In her instance, I was basically just following the Democratic narrative, and that was the just thing guiding my vote. I never specially liked her. But in 2020, I felt that the Democrats' platforms and policies and ethics have shifted. Black people might be politically liberal, economically liberal, simply we're socially conservative at heart.

Brianna Provenzano is a freelance reporter based in Brooklyn.

Jessica Chou is a Taiwanese American independent photographer currently living and working between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For this serial, Chou photographed our voters remotely from the Bay Area. The voters used their own personal phone devices and were directed by Chou through a video phone telephone call.