We’re nearly one year into President Trump’s second term. 2026 has begun with a stunning action in Venezuela to remove Nicolás Maduro and Mr. Trump threatening to take over Greenland. The midterm elections are just months away, and polls show that Americans are dissatisfied with the economy and sharply divided on the administration’s immigration policy.

The vast majority of Republicans say they approve of Mr. Trump’s performance. Their approval and disapproval of different aspects of his administration, however, can play a role in shaping the rest of his term in office, as well as this year’s midterm results. For its latest focus group, Times Opinion spoke with 11 Republican voters, who reported somewhat or strongly approving of the president’s performance. We asked about what they like about the second Trump administration, and what they don’t.

From tariffs to deportations and the administration’s recent actions in Venezuela, this group said they liked what they’re seeing. They expressed optimism about the economy and especially appreciated his following through on what he had promised to do.

Still, participants want to see more disclosure in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Two expressed dissatisfaction with the aggressiveness of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (This group was conducted before the shooting in Minneapolis.) Nearly everyone wanted to see more, not less, oversight or even regulation from Republicans when it comes to artificial intelligence.

And while these voters admired the Venezuela action, some had questions about the idea of taking over Greenland, especially through military force. As activists argue about the direction of Republican foreign policy, the discussion about Venezuela and Greenland offers some compelling insights about how Republican voters might be thinking about one of the defining features of Mr. Trump’s second term: his aggressive view of American power in Western hemisphere.

If you had to describe how Donald Trump’s second term is going in just one word, what would that one word be?

Hopeful.

Great.

Appreciative.

I think it’s going OK.

Great.

I would say amazing.

Decent.

Excellent.

Going well.

Productive.

Awesome.

Sherry, tell me what you mean by awesome.

He came into a mess, so he had to clean up a lot. He’s done a great job with the tariffs, with the illegals. Prices are now starting to come down for gas and food and stuff.

Bill, what do you mean by productive?

I don’t think he’s sitting on his hands. He’s going out and doing things that he said he’s going to do. He means what he says. He just does it. He’s making a lot of progress.

Shanna, tell me a little bit about why you say decent.

There are things that I like: the tariffs, for example. But then there are things I kind of don’t agree with so much. ICE is pretty big in our area, and I think can be more forceful than maybe is necessary, and just not treating people maybe the way I would want to see.

Holly, you were one of my A’s. Tell me why.

He’s following up on everything he said he was going to do: trying to help out with getting illegals out, the tariffs.

Everything that he’s said, he’s doing: deporting illegal immigrants, dealing with inflation as well. Compared to four years ago, two years ago, it’s slowly starting to come down — groceries, gas. He’s delivering on his promises.

Heather, you gave a B. Why?

He definitely has done the things he said. Like Shanna said, ICE is a little heavy-handed down here in New Orleans. I completely agree with deporting illegals. I’m from Los Angeles, where it’s been really an issue my entire life. But the way that they’re going about it in some instances down here is just a little over the top. On prices, gas is really coming down, eggs are down, but some of the other things are not coming down as fast. I’m on a limited budget, so it’s hurting a little bit, but it’s getting there.

I gave him an A, because, basically, unemployment is down. I do all the grocery shopping for my house, and I see prices have gone down. Gas is down. So I’m really excited about that.

Jessica, you gave Trump’s performance in the last year a C, about average. Why?

I like some of the stuff he’s been doing. He’s definitely been doing a lot of the things he said he was going to do. But then there’s just a lot of chaos, and he doesn’t seem to have a lot of the people working under him under control. There’s a lot of mess.

Are there any people you can think of in particular about whom you may think: I wish he hadn’t hired them?

Well, there was the whole chaos with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don’t know. It just seems like a few of them just kind of leeched onto him, and then they’re just causing chaos.

Has Trump’s first year of his second term fallen short of your expectations, met your expectations, or superseded them?

Past presidents, they have all that talk. Then, once they get in there, they do nothing. This man’s done everything and been full force since he walked in the door.

What are the things that you think that Trump has been most focused on doing in this first year back?

Deporting the illegal people in the country. And he has paused inflation. I think those are two things that he has focused on lately.

Right: keeping his promises, cleaning house with all the illegals. He’s been doing that since Day 1. That was one of the main things. And I would probably say the tariffs, because all the other countries are charging us tariffs. They were charging us, but yet we weren’t charging them anything. Now we’re charging them. They see what it’s like to get charged back like we’ve been getting charged and paying.

I think he’s been focused on dealing with fraud. If anyone’s been following the news, you’ve probably heard that there’s a lot of that going on here in Minnesota. He’s taking an iron fist to that. He sent ICE in. He’s dealing with our governor, dealing with some of our senators. I think also, as far as the illegal immigrants, just dealing with them and getting them out of here. He has to work through the Supreme Court, and they go back and forth on what he can and can’t do. But he’s getting the job done.

Does anybody have an issue area or a problem that you wish he would focus on more?

All these corrupt people that are being caught in all this fraud, actually prosecuting them instead of just saying, oh, they’re caught. I mean, if it was us, we’d be in jail.

Is there anything that you wish he’d maybe spend a little less time on?

Trying to take control of Greenland. He seems like he’s spreading himself thin in so many different directions. I’d rather just see him focused, basically, on more of the immigration, more of the frauds, the scamming, inflation. But like I said before, going after Greenland right now, currently, I’m afraid he’s just spreading himself too thin, and he should be more focused on us. I don’t think Greenland has anything really to do with us as much, but maybe he feels different.

I wish he would get off Twitter. He just needs to think a little more before he writes down whatever he’s just posting.

He needs to think before he opens his mouth.

I didn’t love budget cuts to national parks. As someone who lives near a few and loves to spend time with them, I think they’re understaffed. And he needs to not talk about pregnant women taking Tylenol. I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about, and he just shouldn’t talk about it.

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