Republican, independent voters react positively to Trump declaring US ‘woke no longer'

Fox News

05-03-2025

A Fox News Digital focus group of Democrats, Republicans, and independents gave reactions to President Donald Trump's condemnation of wokeness and declaration that there are "only two genders" during his speech to a joint session of Congress.
In two separate dial tests administered by maslansky + partners' Lee Carter for Fox News Digital on Tuesday night, the three sets of voters indicated how they felt about the two prominent moments from the address as they happened.
The two most notable results showed that both Republican and independent voters reacted very favorably to Trump's proclamation that the U.S. will be "woke no longer," while Democratic voters revealed their negative feelings towards his statement on there being two genders.
During the first test, a clip was shown of Trump saying, "We've ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and, indeed, the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer." As he said those words, the red line representing Republican voters shot up and stayed well above the neutral position.
He continued, saying, "We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender. Very important." The red line stayed high, and even climbed slightly.
Meanwhile, the yellow line representing independents – though it shot up somewhat slower – eventually climbed to a highly positive point where it met the red line and remained there for the rest of Trump's statement.
Democrats, however, remained neutral and only slightly negative towards Trump's comments on wokeness. Their blue line dipped just below the neutral mark on the chart and stayed there throughout the president's point.
Carter gave her analysis of this test, stating, "Republicans and independents celebrated this moment. So many said it's about time. Many called back his line about common sense rulings, saying things like, 'Welcome Back... Common Sense!'"
For the second test, the group listened as Trump said, "I signed an order making it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female."
The red line climbed to a high point quickly and remained there, showing that Republicans favored the words. A similar dynamic could be seen among independent voters, as the yellow line started climbing slowly but eventually shot up almost to the red when Trump said "two genders."
The blue Democratic line stayed neutral for a moment and then dipped a bit into the negative zone in response to the president's words.
"AGAIN, [Republicans] and INDs celebrated while their Dem counterparts scowled, saying things like, 'Good gawd. Trump is bringing this country back to the dark ages,'" Carter said, giving her analysis.
She did offer a couple of observations about the dial tests overall, saying, "Dems barely reacted – wasn't dialing on the floor like we usually see. They were just neutral. It's like they weren't willing to listen to him at all. Independents behaved much more like Republicans than Democrats."