CRISFIELD, Md. — Jan Sterling didn’t answer right away, squinting as she concentrated on a response.

“Is there anything President Donald Trump could do to lose your support?”

It’s a complicated question in Somerset County Precinct 08-002 as Trump approaches his 100th day in office this week. The precinct, arguably the Trumpiest in the state, is part of a rural Chesapeake Bay community in which most residents are Republicans, and nearly all of those Republicans — such as Sterling, a 68-year-old retiree — are Trump supporters.

In the Crisfield-area precinct, Trump loyalty appears as prevalent today as it was on Nov. 5, when he was elected for the second time after promising to tame inflation and conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Nationally, his favorability ratings have declined. Forty percent of Americans in a Pew Research survey this month approved of how he’s handling the job, down 7 percentage points from February, and 39% approved of his recent tariff plan. Similarly, a FOX News poll shows voters approve of how the president is handling immigration, but they have concerns about other issues — especially the cost of living.

But a smattering of red, white and blue “Trump 2024” flags still fly in yards and along roads leading to Crisfield’s mix of abandoned storefronts and emerging condos in the old seafood town. Community leaders hope the scenic waterfront — and renewed flood prevention efforts — will attract new businesses to the sleepy downtown.

With the presidential election decided months ago, the Trump signs aren’t about a campaign anymore but about loudly declaring residents’ continued allegiance to a president in whom they express a seemingly unshakable, almost religious faith.

“I think Trump is for the working people,” said truck driver Michael Sterling, 74, of Crisfield, who is Jan’s husband. “I think he sees how the American people is hurting and needs help.”

His wife, a mother, grandmother and retired accountant, acknowledges lingering anxiety about the economy. Trump’s sweeping tariffs on multiple countries, which began April 9 and have been modified several times, are designed to give the United States leverage in global trade.

“It gets scary when the market goes ‘pfffft,’” she said. “I believe that we do have some hard times coming ahead of us. But if we’re real believers in Trump, I think that we’ll get through this and things will be historically better on the other side.”

Could she envision ever turning against Trump?

“I have faith in him,” she said after a long pause.

A water town where Trump flags fly

Democrats have accused the administration of indiscriminately firing thousands of federal employees, cutting critical medical and scientific research programs, and fomenting a constitutional crisis by disregarding federal court orders. New tariffs have roiled the stock market, and government indexes show food prices continuing to creep higher.

But Trump’s devout backers here — including farmers and blue-collar workers in a county ranking last in the state with a median household income of about $52,000 — would just as soon ditch their favorite football team as abandon the president.

The Sterlings were interviewed from a booth inside “From Scratch,” a homespun restaurant a short drive from the City Dock, where a mural of a blue crab is painted onto wooden planks. Several Trump flags fly along the main road, and a sign reading “Freedom is not Free” sits on the median.

The popular eatery offers homemade pies and local fare, such as crab dip with pretzel bites. Fox News plays on a television above the counter.

Janet Ford, the restaurant owner and chef, does not permit Trump signs or other partisan material inside the restaurant, saying she doesn’t want diners to have to digest politics with their pancakes and omelets. She said Trump “can get in trouble” because he doesn’t always know when to stop talking, but that she appreciates his candor. She credits Trump with better securing the border, and says the wholesale price of eggs has come down, although retail costs, as of last month, had not.

Her Trump loyalty is rooted partly in his defiance of emerging cultural shifts she opposes.

For example, she favors his efforts to block transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male from participating in girls’ or women’s sports.

“There’s nothing okay about that situation,” she said of leagues allowing such transgender participants.

While Democrats said the issue affected few people, Republicans leveraged it nationally during the 2024 presidential and congressional elections.

‘Doing what he has to do’

In Crisfield, being Republican means being with Trump.

A Baltimore Sun analysis of election returns from recent years found Precinct 08-002 — tucked into the state’s southeastern corner — is arguably the Trumpiest, with four times as many Republicans as Democrats.

In the May 2024 GOP presidential primary, Precinct 08-002 cast 77 votes for Trump and five for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

There has been a hardening of political loyalties in recent years, as many of Maryland’s bluest counties have become bluer and the reddest counties have become redder. Democrats control Baltimore City and the large Washington suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Republicans dominate the Western Maryland counties of Allegany, Garrett and Washington, and most of the Eastern Shore, including Somerset County.

To outsiders, Crisfield — about an hour’s drive from popular Ocean City — is known for the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clambake, which annually draws Maryland politicians of both stripes from across the state.

But Crisfield, Maryland’s southernmost city, declined in the last century as the Chesapeake Bay — hurt by pollution and overfishing — ceased producing bountiful oysters, and hard-shell crab processing plants moved elsewhere.

Crisfield’s downtown has been prone to flooding as sea levels rise.

Trump’s message in 2016, when he was first elected, of trying to revive parts of the country left behind in a post-industrial economy, has resonated in Somerset County. Even now, Maryland’s seafood industry feels the sting of imported crabmeat from Venezuela, said Bill Sieling, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, a trade group. “It’s been a problem for years,” Seiling said.

In his campaigns, Trump has scored points with “folks who are convinced that they’ve been left behind, that the global economy has squeezed them out and they haven’t been able to replicate the success of prior generations,” said St. Mary’s College political science professor Todd Eberly. “He has very much leaned into ‘It’s not your fault.’”

Eberly said he sympathizes with communities that lost their economic foundation. “But look,” he said, “it’s not healthy to have an absolute and total dedication to someone in a democracy. Problems start to happen when you become committed to a person instead of an idea.”

But Republican state Del. Charles Otto, a Trump backer who lives on his soybean farm in Somerset County, said he trusts the president and is willing to endure some short-term pain for long-term gain.

Otto’s farm near Wicomico Creek imports potash from Canada. It’s a fertilizer ingredient subject to a 10% tariff.

“The potash is the main thing I’m concerned about,” Otto said.

But overall, he said, the United States “hasn’t had fair trade agreements in a long time, and we need to readjust. I think the president is doing what he has to. Let’s make America great again.”

_____

©2025 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.