Rural Illinoisans who voted for President Donald Trump are expressing mixed emotions about his administration’s performance after his handling of economic issues that have failed to cut inflation and kept the cost of groceries, utilities and other basic needs high.

After delivering the highest voter turnout in Illinois by the GOP in decades, rural voters had high hopes that Trump would follow through on his promise to tackle rising prices. 

People like Mark Baker, a retired factory worker from Waterman who needs social security to afford food, voted for Trump in the 2024 election, thinking his bills would be lower.

“Eggs and milk were going up — it seemed like everything was over $5 before Biden left, and I can’t do that with the pennies I get,” Baker said. “Hearing from (Trump) that he was lowering costs right as he got elected was what I really was looking for.”

Instead, Baker and others said they face even more uncertainty at the grocery store. In Waterman, a small rural DeKalb County town an hour west of Chicago, the only two stores within 20 minutes of the town are a Casey’s gas station and a Dollar General, where prices have not decreased, according to Baker. 

“I wanna get some milk from the store, I have to give over $5 still, though egg prices are cheaper,” Baker said. “It’s not just the milk. Pop keeps going up little bits, 10 cents at a time, creeping on you so you don’t notice them.” 

Farmers are also struggling from the Trump administration’s diplomatic choices, including tariffs that have raised the cost to operate and caused countries to stop buying American crops. Kari Ruhl, whose family includes soybean farmers in DeKalb County, said soybean fields that used to yield more than double now are struggling to break even.

“Now we worry next year there might not be a harvest if this keeps up,” Ruhl said. “Your entire livelihood hinges on having a good year, so if that isn’t possible you got to change right away.”  

In May 2025, due to the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, China stopped all purchases of American crops, especially hurting soybean farmers. Although farmers were promised bailouts and China has resumed buying American crops, some farmers say the slow rollout of the payments and additional tariffs has left a cloud of uncertainty.

 “We’re definitely unsure of what is going to happen next,” Ruhl said. “There is always risk when it comes to farming. You’re never guaranteed to make money, but now it feels like you have to fight even harder to make even a little bit of profit.”

Baker also expressed concerns about how Trump was handling relations with European allies, saying how something like this is almost unprecedented.

“These are our allies and for him to say such things about them was astonishing. Taking these places is something you’d never hear a president say about an ally,” said Baker, referencing Trump’s aggressive pursuit to acquire Greenland. “He’s talking like he wants to intervene into a war.”

But not all of Trump’s voters have negative feelings towards him. Sugar Grove resident Anna Flammang was shopping for groceries in a local Dollar General and gave nothing but glowing reviews of his leadership. 

“It’s great that we finally have a president who’s willing to use his power to get stuff done,” Flammang said. “Just in a year, President Trump has cut government spending and deported criminals en masse to make our country safer.”

Figures given by the Trump administration show that arrests involving undocumented immigrants far below initial projections and that over 70% of arrests involve those with no criminal convictions. 

“I really don’t know what we’re going to do this coming harvest,” Ruhl said. “If Trump keeps giving focus to the illegal immigrants instead of to farmers then I don’t think we’ll have a farm.”

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