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Since Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election a decade ago, the Make America Great Again movement has taken over the Republican Party and reshaped American politics. On Capitol Hill, and in legislatures across the country, MAGA dictates political discourse. It’s everywhere.
But 10 years later, little is known about what the slogan means to Americans. What do Republican and Democratic voters think when they hear the phrase?
That’s what a group of political scientists at the University of Massachusetts set out to answer when they polled 1,000 Americans in April 2025 and asked them to write brief responses. The survey question was open-ended. That allowed respondents to answer any way they saw fit. The UMass scholars then used ChatGTP to analyze the answers and identify underlying themes most addressed by poll participants.
As you might expect, some perspectives mirror those of Republican and Democratic political leaders and pundits. But others offer an unfiltered view of the stark cultural and political differences among voters that the MAGA movement has made more pronounced.
Also in this week’s politics news:
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A Trump supporter holds up a MAGA sign during a rally in Green Bay, Wis., on April 2, 2024.
AP Photo/Mike Roemer
Jesse Rhodes, UMass Amherst; Adam Eichen, UMass Amherst; Douglas Rice, UMass Amherst; Gregory Wall, UMass Amherst; Tatishe Nteta, UMass Amherst
Ten years after Donald Trump launched the Make America Great Again movement, a poll offers some insight into what the slogan means to Republicans and Democrats.
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New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks to supporters in Brooklyn on May 4, 2025.
Madison Swart/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University
Zohran Mamdani is one of the first Democratic candidates to successfully leverage Donald Trump’s focus on cost of living, explains a political strategist.
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Iranians celebrate the ceasefire in downtown Tehran, but many blame their own leaders for the escalation.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Shukriya Bradost, Virginia Tech
The Islamic Republic has a history of targeting minority ethnic groups, especially the Kurds, when it feels threatened.
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Cassandra Burke Robertson, Case Western Reserve University
The Supreme Court just made it harder for judges to block presidential policies nationwide, but lawmakers hold the key to changing that.
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Skip York, Rice University
Fears about supply, demand, profits and supply chains all combine into a volatile mix that delivers prices that are often higher in a crisis, but also change more rapidly and by larger amounts.
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Joshua Rovner, American University
A scholar of intelligence and strategy explains why battle damage assessments are so challenging – and why the process has become politicized.
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Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels, University of Kent
Even if they don’t support the current administration, most Americans are not actually making plans to leave the country.
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