Looking forward to income-tax cuts — and to having income

In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, Yahoo News visited towns and cities across the country, speaking to voters who had supported Donald Trump in the election. As the shape of his administration emerged, we asked voters if they were happy with their choice and optimistic about the future. Here is some of what we found:

_____

MADRID, N.M. — State Highway 14 south of Santa Fe is known as the Turquoise Trail, named for the vivid blue-green stone found sprinkled here in the rocky landscape of the Ortiz Mountains.

Though it is often brilliant in color, locals say turquoise can be hard to spot. One could make the same argument about Republicans here in Santa Fe County, one of the bluest regions in the country, where more than two-thirds of registered voters are Democrats. In November, Hillary Clinton trounced Donald Trump here by nearly 50 percent in one of her least surprising victories.

But just like that random spotting of turquoise, Trump supporters do, in fact, exist here, though not as openly as in other parts of the country. Along a winding canyon stretch of the highway is a former coal-mining ghost town turned artist enclave called Madrid (pronounced Mad-rid), where Connie Mayhew and her husband, Kris, broke with their neighbors to back the New York billionaire for president. It caused a little tension in this tiny town of fewer than 200 where almost everybody knows everybody and most people were backing Clinton.

“We kinda have to walk on eggshells,” Kris said, as Connie nodded.

“We know who we can talk to,” she added.

“It’s all like, you know, hand signals,” Kris laughed.

Slideshow: Scenes from the road in Donald Trump’s America >>>

But now that Trump is the president-elect, the couple is more open about their enthusiasm for the businessman and what they are expecting him to do in the White House. Originally from Texas, the Mayhews relocated to New Mexico full-time several years ago. They live off the grid on 45 acres outside of town, where they are building a house that will run on solar energy.

In town, they own two other plots. On one, Connie, an artist, operates Connie’s Photo Park, a roadside attraction off the highway featuring more than a dozen hand-painted wooden stand-up figures where visitors can poke their head through a hole and appear as space aliens, monkeys, cowboys and even motorcycle buddies in a scene straight out of “Easy Rider.” Connie paints the scenes on lumber donated by friends and neighbors or purchased with donations from the many visitors who pull off the road here.

The couple tries to maintain as small a financial footprint as possible. They no longer use credit cards, and while they have mortgages for the land, they try to live off only what they make here, which isn’t much. It wasn’t always this way.

Kris, a former real estate broker, used to buy property around the state that the couple would rehab on their own and rent or sell, but when the recession hit, it became harder to make ends meet. They took on construction work at other properties and odd jobs to keep afloat. They didn’t mind working hard, and they didn’t need a lot, as Kris explained. But they became bitter when they would see neighbors who didn’t have jobs and relied on welfare with better cars and lifestyles. Why were they working so hard and seeing so little in return?

They sold their properties, gathered their savings and moved to Madrid, where they’re tying to forge a simpler, cheaper life.

But they were energized by Trump’s message and even more so by his victory. In him, they see someone who understands and cares about working people like them. “The whole excitement for America, and bringing America back to where it should be, helping small businesspeople, all the things he talked about — it was just really exciting to me,” Connie said.

Among other things, they are looking for Trump to deliver on tax cuts and incentives for small business. They also want to him to restructure Obamacare to do whatever he can to bring down premiums and make it more affordable — perhaps by loosening restrictions to allow more competition between insurance companies in different states. The couple currently pays cash for their medical visits because they couldn’t afford to pay the premium, which was more than $500 a month combined. “Fortunately, there’s been nothing major,” Kris said.

They want Trump to deliver on his promises to create jobs and to press companies to keep more of their operations in the U.S. instead of going overseas. More than anything, they are hopeful that Trump can bring economic recovery to New Mexico, which has not recovered as quickly as other parts of the country in the aftermath of the recession. The state’s unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, one of the highest in the country, in part due to losses in manufacturing and energy jobs. When Barack Obama and others talked about the nation being back on track, the Mayhews simply didn’t feel that recovery.

But they are hopeful about Trump. Kris wants to renew his real estate license and get back to selling property, and the couple has dreams of opening up a little restaurant on the plot of land next to Connie’s Photo Park, grilling burgers and hot dogs for the folks who pass through here on Highway 14. “Maybe this time next year,” Kris said.

“We’re just excited,” Connie said. “We’re just ready to keep going, moving forward and to keep it going.”