‘You have to sacrifice’: Trump voters stay loyal as US midterms approach

Rising economic pain confronting US voters has not translated into a loss of faith among Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters. Save Share McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, USA –Calvin Ott, the owner of a landscaping business in a part of Pennsylvania that has been a consistent stronghold for United States President Donald Trump, is one of several so-called “MAGA voters” whose support for Trump has not wavered even as life has gotten a lot more expensive for him since the president returned to office last year. “I’m 75 years old, and I’m still working,” Ott says as he sips his Coors Light under the dim lights of Fulton Pub in McConnellsburg. The pub, which serves as a watering hole for the town’s approximately 1,000 residents, is where Ott unwinds after his doctor’s appointment before making the one-hour drive back through the Appalachian Mountains to his home in Shippensburg. “I had quadruple bypasses. I’ve had skin cancer. I have my fingers cut off. I’ve had several heart issues”, Ott said with a bit of pride, showing off his right hand that has fallen victim to decades of chainsaw and lawnmower accidents. Despite rising medical costs – his medications have more than doubled in price since last year – and his inability to retire as he approaches his 80s, the three-time Trump voter said he will continue to vote for Republicans in next month’s US midterm elections. “I support him 100 percent,” Ott told Al Jazeera as Foreigner’s song Urgent played in the background of the pub. In 2016, less than 6,000 people in Fulton County, where the town is located, supported Trump’s presidential campaign. That number rose to more than 7,000 eight years later, helping to fuel Trump’s return to the White House. For Ott, his support is less a reflection of what Trump has done than what Democrats would do if they were in power. “He’s the only president that made a promise that he kept,” Ott said. “He hates wars, even though we’re in one. But he’s for America.” “What the hell did Biden ever give out?” he railed about the economic policies of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, which included a $1,400 stimulus cheque to Americans through legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The unrelenting support for Trump among his most loyal supporters runs through Republican strongholds like McConnellsburg. MAGA voters like Ott make up the backbone of the president’s support: working-class, white, without college degrees, and angry with Washington....