Americans share hopes and fears for second Trump presidency

As Donald Trump builds a new administration and prepares to reclaim the White House in January, Americans are sharing both their hopes and fears for his second term in office, questioning how the nation can move forward together.
“I wish people would remember history, and all the things he said and all the things he did in his first term,” said Kevin Whitfield in Philadelphia. “From January 6th to drinking bleach to ‘there are good people on both sides,’ but America is a place where popularity is more important than anything.”
With Republicans in control of the U.S. House and Senate, others say they look forward to the changes to come.
“The price of food has gone ridiculous and hopefully it goes back down,” said Rich Bresselsmith, a restaurant cook who recently moved from Las Vegas to Reno, Nevada. “The economy is what’s important to me right now.”
A Gallup poll cited the economy as the top issue for voters going into the 2024 election.
Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.
Elaine Kamarck, a political analyst and policy researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., says it points to a growing division among Americans when it comes to education, and therefore, voting.
“It’s like we really have two countries here,” said Kamarck. “We have a country made up of college-educated people … Many of them, in fact, are immigrants to the United States who come for greater opportunities. So we have that America and then we have a lot of people who didn’t even finish high school or finished high school, and that was it. And they find in this economy, their economic opportunities are quite limited.”
According to the Pew Research Center, Democratic voters were more likely to hold a college degree than Republican voters in the 2022 midterms. For the 2024 election, multiple exit polls indicate the “diploma divide” remained a critical factor. 56 per cent of those without a college degree voted for Trump.
“Trump gives voice to a lot of their anger and a lot of their frustration, and they’re going to feel that they’ve got somebody in the White House who listens to them,” said Kamarck.
She says Democrats have lost touch with the needs of working-class Americans, alienating those who might not subscribe to the more left-leaning policies of the party. Republicans offered a solution.
“I often joked that it was harder to come out as a Republican than it was as a gay man,” Skyler Akins, a Georgia Republican, told Reuters at his home near Atlanta. “I say that because the Republican Party now opens and welcomes everyone, as long as you believe in liberty, freedom and limited government and low taxes, then you’re welcome in this party.” 
While rifts remain deep, Martin Luther King III, a civil rights advocate and eldest son of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, says division is not sustainable.
“Most people want to be heard,” said King in a sit-down interview with USA TODAY on Election Day. “Yes, they want you to act too, but we’ve created a scenario where people’s voices are not heard. People’s concerns are not heard.”
He added: “It’s about dignity and respect.”