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NPR stations in three states that were pivotal to the election sent reporters out to find people and ask them what motivated them to vote the way they did. We'll start in Wisconsin.
CHUCK QUIRMBACH, BYLINE: I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Outside the El Rey super mercado in a largely Latino neighborhood, Brenda Cuellar sits in her black pickup truck with a red MAGA hat on the dashboard and Trump-Vance decal on the back window. The first-time voter, who was born in Mexico, gently asks her two children to be quieter. Then she explains she voted for Donald Trump because she finds the cost of living too high.
BRENDA CUELLAR: The food is very expensive. Everything is very expensive. I don't like it.
CUELLAR: Cuellar also mentions, quote, "too many bad people coming across the border to the U.S." Cuellar, who works in Milwaukee as a machinist, says she pays taxes, while she feels undocumented immigrants get too much help from the government. Her request for Trump in the months ahead - bring down prices and reduce illegal immigration.
CUELLAR: The border. The border. Stay out, the bad people.
QUIRMBACH: Over in the next row of cars, Bryan Ortiz is getting out of his SUV. On this late afternoon, he's still wearing fluorescent green clothes from his construction job. Ortiz says he voted for Trump because he says Democrats mishandled the economy. He says one of the first ways Trump should fix that is to increase U.S. oil production.
BRYAN ORTIZ: That's going to make transporting goods from one place to another way cheaper.
QUIRMBACH: Ortiz, born and raised in Puerto Rico, says he wasn't upset by a comedian's description of his birthplace at a Trump rally last month as a, quote, "floating island of garbage." For him, he says Trump's promise to reduce illegal immigration would help him find work.
ORTIZ: I lost a lot of jobs just because they wanted to hire someone that was willing to take way lower pay than normal.
QUIRMBACH: Despite the backing for Trump in this one Milwaukee parking lot, about 77% of voters in the city backed Vice President Harris. But that was less than President Biden's support four years ago and part of why analysts say Trump was able to carry Wisconsin. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee.
SARAH KALLIS, BYLINE: And I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta. Trump won the state by 117,000 more votes than Vice President Harris. That's 10 times more than President Biden's margin of victory in 2020. Voters around Georgia said that they chose Trump because they hope to see change.
PAIGE DECOMBES: I know when we lived during Trump's presidency, everything was much lower. Groceries were lower, gas was lower. So I'm just hoping to see that come down.
KALLIS: Paige Decombes in Macon said that she is hoping Trump brings down the cost of living. Inflation has cooled in recent months, but some voters are still nostalgic for lower prices - especially grocery prices - during the Trump era. Trump has promised to curb inflation, in part by bringing down energy costs.
KYLE BROWN: You know, making sure we try and have as many jobs as we can here in the country, and try and keep everybody gainfully employed.
KALLIS: Savannah voter Kyle Brown said that he would have preferred a different Republican to Trump but ultimately chose him. Brown said he wanted a shake-up in Washington. He also mentioned the cost of living and groceries.
RAYMOND HRABEC: It's not because I like his personality, that's for sure. I think he's the one to take care of the economy, the oil issues and the border issues.
KALLIS: That was Raymond Hrabec in Savannah. U.S.-Mexico border security was top of mind for many Trump voters in Georgia. Some, like Caden Cromer, say it hits close to home, after college student Laken Riley was allegedly killed by an undocumented migrant in Athens, Georgia, earlier this year.
CADEN CROMER: Just seeing how our country is right now, it's a scary place for us, and I want us to be safe. I believe that we need a change, and we have to put Americans first.
KALLIS: For some Trump voters like Cromer, safety and migration seem linked, and Trump has promised mass deportations. But research has shown undocumented migrants are not more likely to commit violent crimes than U.S. citizens. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
PAUL BOGER, BYLINE: And I'm Paul Boger in Las Vegas. A steady stream of voters flowed into and out of the polling site at Nellis Crossing on the east side of Las Vegas on Election Day. It's a predominantly working-class Latino neighborhood, one that President Biden won in 2020. Joe Lamos lives nearby and runs a security company. He says his family couldn't afford to vote for Vice President Harris.
JOE LAMOS: Everything's gone up for us. Our power bill - everything. Gas - everything has gone up, and I don't see wages going up alongside with it. So that's very problematic for people that are just trying to survive and take care of their family.
BOGER: That's partly because Nevada's economy has been slow to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the state has maintained the highest unemployment rate in the country, as well as some of the highest levels of inflation.
KRISTA BANDY: The economy was good when Trump was in.
BOGER: That's Krista Bandy, a single mom with four kids.
BANDY: It's not easy, with groceries and bills and everything just skyrocketing. I believe maybe he will make a change because I believe right now, who is in office isn't making a change.
BOGER: Like Lamos, Bandy is optimistic that Trump's return to the White House will help turn back the clock to before the pandemic, when Nevada was one of the fastest-growing economies in the country. Mike Olague, a retired cabinet maker, says the only way to improve the economy is to start running the government like a business.
MIKE OLAGUE: I mean, you got budgets, you got assets, deficits. You know, you can't just go out printing money.
BOGER: Olague says for him, the last four years have been madness. He thinks Trump is the only one who can cure Nevada's troubled economic landscape. For NPR News, I'm Paul Boger in Las Vegas.
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