“I don’t have friends anymore because I’ve switched parties,” said Judy Brana, 66, a retired music and art teacher from St. Cloud, Minn., who left home at 10:30 on Wednesday morning to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive up to Duluth for the president’s rally.
“Friends I’ve had for 40 years,” she added. “It’s insane, that’s what I’ll tell you.”
Another factor that seems to be driving up support is a sense that no one is acknowledging Mr. Trump’s successes, which they see as manifold, historic and irrefutable.
“Let’s see,” said John Westling, 70, of Princeton, Minn., reciting a list of the president’s accomplishments that he said no one in the media wants to talk about. “Economy booming, check. Unemployment down, check. Border security being addressed, check. Possible end to the Korean War that started when I was 3 years old, 68 years ago, check.”
“I suspect that if Trump walked across Lake Mille Lacs,” Mr. Westling added, “the media would announce, ‘Trump can’t swim!’”
As measured by the Gallup daily presidential approval tracking poll, Mr. Trump has averaged 87 percent job approval from fellow Republicans in his second year in office, up from 83 percent in his first year. And during the past two weeks, his approval rating hit 90 percent with Republicans.
Yet some say their patience with Mr. Trump’s divisive style is not limitless. Gary Winthorpe, a 17-year-old high school student who was on his way to see the president speak in Minnesota on Wednesday, said he hopes that the first vote he casts for president in 2020 is for Mr. Trump. But he acknowledged being wary at times, aware of protests against the president.
“I’m not blindly for Donald Trump,” he said. “I have a fair bit of skepticism toward him. But I feel like he is trying his best.”
