THE VILLAGES, FL - They skipped pickleball matches, softball practice and regular Friday card games, broke out their MAGA hats and “No Kings” signs, hopped into golf carts and gathered in one of the largest senior communities in America to make their voices heard.
President Donald Trump was in town, and The Villages – a retirement mecca in Central Florida – was abuzz.
Thousands of Trump-loving seniors waited for hours to show their appreciation, packing into a school gymnasium for a boisterous rally where they cheered on the president as he promoted a tax break and other policies aimed at older Americans. Nearby, a crowd of a few hundred Villagers lined a roundabout with protest signs and colorfully decorated golf carts.
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Trump and his party are in perilous political waters as polls show large majorities of voters dissatisfied with his handling of the economy and the Iran war. The president’s trip to The Villages – in an area where Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats – offered an opportunity to rally his base and speak to an important constituency of older voters who will be critical in the upcoming midterm election.
“I like everything about him,” said Jackie Williams, a 74-year-old retiree from New Jersey who voted for Trump three times and would do so again “if I could.”
Williams waited in a long line with other Villagers to see Trump, who took the stage in front of a “golden age for your golden years” sign. The president told the crowd that his tax break for seniors is fattening their refund checks.
“That means more money to visit your grandkids, bigger budget for taking a trip to someplace that you want to go, or extra dinners out with your family, you’re going to do a lot,” he said.
Trump pointed to 401k retirement accounts swollen by rising stock prices, Medicare changes such as covering weight loss drugs and other actions targeting prescription drug costs.
The president indicated he felt secure in The Villages, noting the recent shooting at a press gala he attended and concerns about his safety in public spaces.
“They want me to be in a secure place. I said: ‘What’s more secure than The Villages?’” Trump said of the GOP stronghold.
The rally provided a big show of support for a president facing political turbulence. Yet even in the The Villages, there were signs of the growing backlash to Trump’s aggressive second term agenda and bipartisan concern about the rising cost of living, an issue that has dogged the president and could be critical in the upcoming election.
Skipping pickleball
The Villages sprawls across a patch of inland Florida north of Orlando, drawing retirees from around the country.
A display in one of its welcome centers Friday listed new arrivals from 30 different states and Canada, many attracted by the carefully manicured streetscapes and vast amenities, a seemingly endless succession of pickleball courts, golf courses, swimming pools and other adult play areas. Golf carts are a primary mode of transportation for many.
GOP candidates have long been attracted to the community as a place to reach a high concentration of Republican voters.
Paul Hoecker isn’t one of them. He was supposed to be at softball practice Friday, but since Trump won a second term he increasingly has been compelled to publicly show his disapproval of the president.
Hoecker, 76, worked in insurance in Atlanta before retiring and moving to The Villages 12 years ago. An independent, Hoecker said he never attended a protest until recently, when he began showing up at “No Kings” demonstrations against Trump.
“It’s gotten unbearable, the stuff he’s done,” said Hoecker, a Navy veteran sporting a “grumpy old vet” hat as he sat in camp chair in front of a golf cart parked with dozens of others at a demonstration organized by the Florida Democratic Party and The Villages Democratic Club.
Hoecker dismissed Trump’s tax cut for seniors, saying the president’s big tax bill passed last year largely benefited the wealthiest individuals.
Nearby, Dana Dandino held a sign jabbing Trump about the cost of grocery prices. She pointed to the rising cost of gas and other essentials.
“People are not going to be able to put groceries on the table,” said Dandino, 71, a retired teacher from New Jersey. “It’s already happening,”
Many Villagers are fortunate, Dandino said. They often have pensions and Medicare and other cushions against rising costs. Many drive electric golf carts and aren’t as worried about gas prices.
Yet the seniors she talks to are concerned about how the economy and debt could impact their grandchildren, she said, and about Trump’s policies in general. Dandino skipped her Friday pickleball game because she’s worried “we are going to lose our democracy” and wanted to speak out against Trump.
Villages Democratic Club President Bill Knudson said membership has grown 20% under Trump’s second term to around 1,700. Around 7,000 people came out for the most recent “No Kings” anti-Trump protest in The Villages, he said.
“Every time Trump does something major people show up,” he said, taking a break from passing out signs. Nearby someone held a large peace sign and another person had an “86 47” sign, the message spelled out in seashells that former FBI Director James Comey shared in a social media post and now is being prosecuted for.
Cars drove by honking in support, with the occasional heckler. One man leaned out his window to ask if “ya’ll assassinators?”, an apparent reference to the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner that Trump attended.
Packed gymnasium
The line to get into Trump’s rally at The Villages Charter School stretched out of the school parking lot and hundreds of yards down a sidewalk.
Marie Hartz, 79, waited with a friend more than five hours to get into the rally. A retired kindergarten teacher from New York who bought her place in The Villages in 2004, Hartz said the wait to get into the rally was “well worth it.”
She raved about Trump, from his immigration policies to “keeping us safe from Iran.”
“They would’ve had the bomb,” she said of Iran as she sat in a high school bleacher, waiting in a bejeweled American flag pattern hat for Trump to speak. “I believe that. They’re always saying death to America.”
Hartz said “everyone feels the pinch” of cost-of-living issues, but “I’m hoping that it’s temporary.”
“I understand people who are affected but my parents were affected during World War II,” said Hartz, who skipped her regular card game for the rally. “They went without and so could we.”
Rising gas prices are for a “good cause,” she said of the war.
Trump assured The Villages crowd that oil prices would come “crashing down” when the war is over, something he has struggled to accomplish as negotiations with Tehran appear to be stalled. He suggested the economic fallout from the conflict could’ve been much worse, saying he expected oil prices to be higher and stock prices to be lower after attacking Iran.
“I am surprised. I thought the stock market would go down by 25 percent, I thought that oil prices would be up much higher than they are right now,” Trump said, adding: “We had to get this done.”
Hartz and others at the rally played down polls showing Trump’s approval rating plummeting. Ed Killory, 65, said the affordability issue is “overblown” as he waited in line for the rally.
“I think the war will be gone in four to eight weeks, everybody will forget it, gas will go down to $2 a gallon, the midterms will be fine,” said Killory, who owns an insurance business in The Villages and flies a Trump flag at his house.
Yet even among the crowd of die-hard Trump supporters there was nervousness about Iran and prices. While Williams, the New Jersey retiree, strongly backs Trump, she conceded that the Iran war and costs are weighing on people.
“It could be better,” Williams said of the cost of living. “And if we can get out of this war . . . it would bring the cost of gasoline (down). Anytime the gasoline goes up, everything goes up, so that’s very important. He’s got to do that soon because you’re making a lot of people unhappy and I’m unhappy with that too.”
For other Villagers, the president's visit didn't interrupt their daily routine. Retiree Ken Fraser, 66, is a Trump fan but decided to hit the pickleball court Friday instead. On the courts, "you forget about everything going on in the world," he said as he took a break between matches for a coffee.
Seniors critical to 'MAGA base'
Trump’s Florida rally was the latest in a series of trips aimed at selling his second term agenda and combating increasingly negative views of his administration ahead of the midterms.
Backlash to Trump’s policies has fueled a series of wins and overperformances by Democrats in 2025 and 2026.
Trump’s approval rating dipped to a second-term low in multiple recent surveys. Large majorities of voters in a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey gave the president low marks for his handling of the economy, inflation and Iran, which has driven up gas prices and added to cost of living concerns.
Even 41% of Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos survey said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of cost-of-living.
Senior voters are more likely to still approve of Trump’s performance, though.
Trump has been bleeding support among younger voters and voters of color. A CNN survey from last month found that while Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points from a year ago, it has dropped 19 points among voters age 18 to 34 and 11 points among voters of color. Among voters 65 and older Trump’s approval dropped six points.
But an analysis by CNN that averaged recent polls by the news outlet, along with those from CBS and FOX News, found that Trump’s approval rating among senior voters has barely dipped from a year ago.
Seniors vote at significantly higher rates than younger voters, and Trump’s continued strength with older voters could be a lifeline for his struggling party in the midterms.
“Seniors have been, and continue to be, a large part of the Trump-supporting MAGA base,” said University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett, noting Trump still has “solid approval” among this group and keeping them motivated ahead of the next election could be important.
Jewett said issues such as affordability, health care, retirement benefits and crime tend to be top concerns for seniors.
Trump has pushed policies aimed at cutting costs for seniors, but his efforts to sell his economic agenda has been fitful as the Iran war at pet projects like a planned White House ballroom draw his attention away. And the cost of gas remains a potent reminder of the affordability problem weighing on many older Americans, Jewett said.
“Many seniors are still feeling edgy about the current economy and worried about the future,” he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pickleball, protests and MAGA. Trump stirs FL retirement community
