These New Hampshire voters don’t love everything Trump says. But here’s why they’re planning to back him

“I’m with Trump because he supports fishermen, you know, and obviously it’s my livelihood,” Konchek said in an interview at the Portsmouth pier.

The first time we watched Konchek, in a sleeveless shirt, push off the dock in September, he was most likely voting for Trump but said he wanted to give Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a look.

“What he’s doing in Florida is working,” Konchek said last week. “I don’t feel like he is ready for the big seat, though.” Other voters didn’t either. DeSantis dropped out of the race on Sunday after finishing a distant second in Iowa last week.

One clue it is decision time in New Hampshire: the Portsmouth pier is covered in snow, the metal gangplanks down to the boats are coated in ice and Konchek is wrapped in several layers and still fidgety in the sub-freezing temperatures.

“It’s a little colder,” Konchek said with a smile. “Definitely a little colder, but you get used to it.”

New England tough, yes. But in reality, Konchek has little choice. It is the job that pays the bills, so he is on the water whenever the weather allows.

Dropping and retrieving gill nets while living in tight quarters below deck and eating frozen food reheated in a microwave is tough work any time of year. It is brutal in these conditions.

“That’s where your fish comes from,” he says, shivering, after showing a visitor how to work the gill nets on the Alanna Renee.

Konchek is part of a CNN project to track the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters who live in key states or are part of key voting blocs. Or both.

Spending time with Trump voters like Konchek brings a better understanding of the former president’s visceral appeal to those who are no fans, and sometimes harsh critics, of how he conducts himself.