A number of Trump supporters I spoke with this week, many of whom were in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, expressed optimism about Trump’s political outsider status, but readily admitted it creates a lot of uncertainty. “He’s just a different kind of president, and I’m looking at that as kind of exciting,” said Lynn Hargest, a Trump voter from Falls Church, Virginia, who hopes to attend Friday’s inauguration ceremony. “We’re all taking a chance. Even a lot of the Trump voters I know, we look at it like you’re taking a chance. We don’t really know what we’re going to get sometimes,” she added. “A lot of people voted Trump because they didn’t want Hillary. It wasn’t so much that they love him so much, but he does grow on you. He did grow on me.”
For some Trump voters, though, that uncertainty has caused anxiety. “The lack of experience is good and bad,” said Doug Baker, a 55-year-old Trump voter who traveled to Washington from North Carolina for the inauguration. “A new direction isn’t necessarily bad, but not knowing where the trip wires are, and who to rub right and wrong could be an issue.” When it comes to foreign policy, Baker feels particularly concerned about Trump’s inexperience. “We have to get along with China, with Russia, with what have historically been either adversaries or allies, depending on the situation,” he said. “What I’d really like to see is that the world says, ‘It’s okay,’ because everybody’s nervous right now. They’ve never seen this before.”
At the same time, the incoming president’s lack of political experience may make it easier for his supporters to view him as a blank slate, which could be appealing in its own right. “It seems very likely that many people who supported him are seeing him as they want to see him,” Kathy Frankovic, a YouGov consultant and former director of surveys at CBS News, said in an interview.
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