Focus Groups: Project 2025 & Former President Trump

This Navigator Research report contains findings from focus groups among engaged Democrats under the age of 30 in Michigan, independents in Pennsylvania, and Republicans in Wisconsin on Project 2025, including awareness and perception of Project 2025 and whether they associate it with former President Trump’s governing agenda.

Project 2025 has high awareness among engaged Democrats and independents.

Project 2025 is widely known among independent and Democratic participants, and predominantly view it negatively, while Republican participants have lower levels of awareness about it. Younger Democrats in Michigan and independents in Pennsylvania were familiar with Project 2025, including one Pennsylvania independent who said that “Project 2025 is from the Heritage Foundation, and most of the people that came up about this plan for Project 2025 actually served under Donald Trump, and his name is in it like 300 and some odd times… but anyway, Project 2025 is really there to take away a lot of our rights,” while a Michigan Democrat defined it as “…a pamphlet of how to quick-start a Trump presidency… it’s been backed by a lot of Republican political scientists… they already planned the pre-work of what happens, so as soon as Trump becomes elected, boom, they can just get going with these things… it’s something to be afraid of.” Some Republicans in Wisconsin were aware of Project 2025, but less in depth, including one Wisconsin woman who said: “I’ve heard of it and I don’t know a lot about it. What I’ve heard is [that] it’s not necessarily a great thing and I should really look more into it.” 

• Most credited social media with their awareness of Project 2025. A Pennsylvania independent said: “People started talking about it actually on TikTok. When I was flipping through they were talking about this Project 2025. I haven’t really heard about it before until several months ago. And then that’s when I started to read it.” A Michigan Democrat similarly noted: “I’ve only seen it a lot on social media. I think from what it sounds like, it doesn’t sound good.”
• Participants heard statements in support and opposition to Project 2025, which evoked more questions and concern. In response to a statement from supporters of Project 2025 that it is “a policy plan that represents the next conservative Republican president’s last chance to save the republic, rescuing the country from the grip of the radical left through the right governing agenda and right leadership,” a Michigan Democrat responded: “That’s a concerning thing, but also I guess I don’t have a good enough understanding of politics, how a plan that the president hasn’t necessarily even said that he would agree to yet could demolish our system of checks and balances as they are. We made the government so that this kind of thing can’t happen. I just get question marks in my head.”

Additional information on Project 2025 evokes shock and overwhelms across party lines.

After participants viewed clips of the Wall Street Journal video detailing Project 2025, disdain for the plan grew. One Wisconsin Republican stated: “That sounds a bunch of garbage to me. It’s crap… there is nothing in there that makes any kind of sense to me… that would make me want to say, ‘You know what, yes, I’m all for this. Let’s give the President of the United States of America every legal power we can possibly give that person and let him go.’” Most viewed the plan as a power grab that disregards democracy. As a Pennsylvania independent noted: “[it is] shocking. Because we were founded on democracy, we should keep our democracy. I don’t think a president should have free rein over everything, going after who he doesn’t like, or making up laws or whatever.”

• Others found the dismantling of the federal government as the most egregious aspect of Project 2025. A Pennsylvania independent noted: “[it is] very overwhelming… There’s just so much information out there… they want to take away all these rights. The veterans, like the homeless veterans, they want to take away that, their jobs, they want to eliminate the Department of Education. And that’s something that we need. People need to be educated, our children need to be educated. So, taking those rights away would be troublesome.” A Wisconsin Republican also said: “Well, there could be pieces in there that I agree [with]. Let’s say there are too many government employees, but that they’re going to turn into little political disciples? Almost insulting.”
• When asked if Project 2025 were an animal, participants described sneaky and dangerous animals, like a Pennsylvania independent who said that they thought of “…a Tasmanian devil… it would just cause havoc” and a weak Republican from Wisconsin said “…a cockroach. It’ll never die now, the idea is out there.” Another Republican from Wisconsin said a cobra, with their reasoning being: “Because it’s looking to poison and kill from within.”

The connection to Trump’s agenda is clear to most, even as he attempts to distance himself from it.

Most see the connection between former President Trump and Project 2025, though Republicans are skeptical because even they reject the substance of the plan. Many saw the connection between Trump’s past actions and Project 2025, including a Pennsylvania independent who stated: “Well, unchecked power is definitely something I think his administration has been going for and I’m not a fan of that for any president, right, or left, or middle, or anything. I think all actions need to be checked by other branches of the government.” Another Pennsylvania independent noted: “Some of those things in there are stuff that Trump said… like using the Justice Department to investigate certain people and not others and that the president should be there. So, he might not endorse it, but he’s endorsed different policies in it. So, even if it’s not by him, he still probably agrees with a lot of it.”  A strong Democrat from Michigan stated: “I think it’s very closely aligned with just how much power he desires to have over the people and basically how he seems to want to get the final word and have his way…”

• Several Republican participants were reluctant to see the plan as Trump’s.  A weak Republican from Wisconsin said: “It’s almost too outlandish to believe that it could necessarily be aligned with anyone in particular, and I agree. It’s more generated for a reaction than it would be to try to get someone to align with one side or the other.” Another Wisconsin Republican noted: “I do not think Trump’s affiliated with that. Trump is very radical sometimes, but I don’t think that is his doing.”
• In response to Trump distancing himself from Project 2025, some thought he was lying, including a Michigan Democrat who stated: “I think he’s lying. He also said that he likes some stuff, but there was some stuff that he didn’t like. So I think if he was to become president, he would definitely follow through, but he will probably even tweak it even more and make more stuff that he wants.” An independent who leaned toward the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania also noted: “He has a well-documented and well-known history of not telling the truth. So, just because he says I don’t have anything to do with this, you have to take that with a grain of salt because pretty much everything that he says is self-serving.”
• When participants were asked to write a letter to Washington about Project 2025, a Republican from Wisconsin simply replied: “Please light this document on fire.”