In many ways the campaign for the White House in 2020 began the instant Donald Trump took the stage early on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016 to announce he had won the presidency. Almost from that instant, we began to ask whether the most untraditional and divisive president of the modern era could win again.

Over the course of four years — through the ordeals of the Russian investigation, impeachment, Supreme Court nominations, primary elections, police killings and a summer of protest, and finally a once-in-a-century pandemic — POLITICO Magazine dispatched writers across the country, seeking clues to the depth and durability of Trump’s support. We went to red pockets in blue states and blue enclaves in red states. We sought out suburban women and Venezuelan immigrants, young Black families in the South and older white couples in the Midwest. In a moment of intense and seemingly permanent partisanship, we asked about why they had made the choices they did and what, if anything, might persuade them to change their minds.

Their stories provided real insight about the shifting contours of support for Trump, and, the factors that ultimately tipped the election in Joe Biden’s favor. In the aftermath of the record-setting turnout, as the counting dragged on for several tense days and the president insisted the election had been rigged against him, we reached out to a sampling of the people whose views had informed our coverage along the way. We wanted to know what this unprecedented election looked like after months (even years) of anticipation. We have paired quotes that appeared in POLITICO stories over the past four years with fresh interviews done since Election Day. We are still a deeply divided nation, as you will see, but it’s not hard to detect on both sides a stubborn hopefulness of better times ahead.

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