SUBURBS OF ATLANTA — NPR has launched Swing Shift, a multi-year project enlisting a dozen swing-state voters who have agreed to regularly discuss their evolving political views over the next three years. The participants live in swing states, do not always vote for the same party, and at some point in the past decade have all voted for President Donald Trump, with most having voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 before backing Trump in 2024.

To allow participants to speak more freely, they agreed not to use their full names, and an artist was commissioned to illustrate their portraits. The project follows a group of voters who could be pivotal in this year's midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election.

"How they vote is how America will vote," pollster Frank Luntz said. "This 7 percent of America that goes back and forth and not just back and forth between Republicans and Democrats – they'll vote for an independent candidate and they may not even vote. And that is the margin of success in the states and districts that matter."

Two of the participants, Gerald, 51, and Wally, 44, are Black men living in the suburbs of Atlanta. Both grew up voting for Democrats and supported Biden in 2020 before voting for Trump in 2024. Gerald works as a truck driver, while Wally works in a technology job. They have arrived at different assessments of Trump's second term: Gerald grades the president's performance as A++, while Wally gives him an F.

"Listen, I am so pro-Trump, people just don't even understand," Gerald said. "The dude is amazing because he's not following the script." He said his 2024 vote was a hopeful one after researching and doing more critical thinking. "And to me critical thinking means, what if I'm wrong about what I've been told?" he said.

Wally, whose family is financially secure, sat in his backyard by a fire pit near a swing set he said his kids are getting too big for. "Like, what do we have that we can hang our hat on right now?" he asked. "We have higher gas prices." Wally said he wants a better country for his children. "I think with Trump, we're just trying to weather this guy," he said. "We can't get to 2029 fast enough. The problem is what shape will we be in once we get there."