S6 Ep33: The Sad, Mad GOP Base (with Amy Walter)
The Focus Group Podcast
The Bulwark
4.8 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
EDITOR'S NOTE: This episode has been updated to remove comments made by or about a focus group participant who we believe misrepresented his political viewpoints to gain access to the group. We are reviewing our participant screening processes accordingly.
If there's a blue wave in the 2026 elections, it'll be either because new people start voting for Democrats, or the current Republican base gets sad and stays home. So we convened a focus group of 2020 and 2024 Trump voters who are unhappy with his administration to give you a sample of the kind of despair that could keep Republicans home in November. Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report, returns to the show to break down the midterm landscape.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The dichotomy used to be, I don't like the mean tweets, but the economy's good. |
| 0:04.0 | Or I don't like Trump the person, but I like his policies. |
| 0:06.6 | And now they don't like Trump the person or his policies at the moment. |
| 0:13.9 | Hello, everyone and welcome to the Focus Group podcast. |
| 0:16.7 | I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark. |
| 0:19.0 | And this week, we're going to talk about Trump's base and how they'll affect the midterm elections. |
| 0:24.8 | You know, the people that we're going to listen to today are Trump voters, like 2020, 24, Trump voters, but they are mad as hell at the administration and the state of the country. |
| 0:38.4 | But it remains to be seen whether they're going to take it anymore. |
| 0:41.3 | That's my producer. |
| 0:42.2 | They're mad as hell, but we don't know if they're going to take it anymore. |
| 0:45.3 | Great job, Connor. |
| 0:46.6 | I think these recent special elections are showing a real enthusiasm gap. |
| 0:50.6 | Marjorie Taylor Green's old congressional districts swung 25 points toward Democrats in the |
| 0:55.6 | special election just this past week, though that still wasn't enough for the Democrat to win, |
| 1:01.3 | but that's a big swing. And if there's a blue wave in November, it may have as much to do with |
| 1:06.0 | the sad GOP-based staying home as with Democrats converting a bunch of new voters. |
| 1:13.7 | We're going to acclimate to the political environment. |
| 1:17.0 | These sad Trump voters are living in. |
| 1:21.6 | We're also going to explore some of the more exotic views these folks have because by the end of the show, you might find yourself saying, I can't believe this person is souring on the |
| 1:27.0 | Trump administration. |
| 1:28.4 | My guest today is Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, |
| 1:33.3 | here for her seventh appearance on this show. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Bulwark, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Bulwark and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.