Nothing seemed out of the ordinary Friday at the Athens County Republican Headquarters. Rebecca Keller, Athens resident and volunteer, was explaining why she was supporting Donald Trump for president.
"He's a fresh mind, a different perspective," Keller said. "He doesn't owe anybody anything. I think it's time we tried something different."
Friday would turn out to be one of the most difficult days of the campaign for Trump. Around the time the Athens campaign office closed for the day, a recording from 2005 was published in which Trump made vulgar comments and discussed cheating on his wife. Trump issued an apology that night, but several Republicans still renounced the candidate, including U.S Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.
"Donald Trump's comments were offensive and wrong," Portman said in a statement on his website. "While I continue to respect those who still support Donald Trump, I can no longer support him."
Ohio will be a key battleground state this November, and it will be difficult for Donald Trump to win the election without carrying the swing state. A CBS poll released Sunday morning showed Clinton leading Ohio with 46 percent of likely voters, compared to Trump's 42 percent. Nationally, the two candidates are tied among men, but Clinton has a 14-point lead among women according to a Rasmussen poll released Monday. If Trump is to carry the state, he'll need the support of voters like Keller.
"I still love him, and I'm standing by him," Keller said about the weekend's controversy. "The media is taking irrelevant things and trying to distract us from the crooked criminal Hillary Clinton. ... Nothing would change my mind (about Trump)."
Keller was not always a staunch Republican. She said she keeps an open mind and even voted for President Barack Obama in 2008. But she felt the Obama Administration had not acted responsibly.
"I just got nervous when I started to see my country slip away," she said. "Why do I have to clip coupons, and you get to do irresponsible things?"
Keller is one of many Athens women planning to vote for Trump. Rebecca Thacker is a professor at Ohio University's College of Business and the chair of the local Women for Trump group. The group is not organized in the way traditional political groups are, as no meetings or events are held.
"Often people meet just to meet," Thacker said of the policy to not hold meetings. "Our group is grassroots; it's informal in the way the whole Donald Trump movement has been."
Instead, she encourages fellow female Trump supporters to speak to other women about why Trump would be a better option than Clinton for the presidency. She admits that can sometimes be a difficult task in Athens where the population has a tendency to be more liberal.
Thacker said she was not bothered by Trump's 2005 remarks released over the weekend.
"I think there are a lot of red-blooded American men who talk like that," she said. "But I'm not going to base my decision on if he's a moral character. If people want to focus on that, then it's tunnel vision. We need to focus on how we can fix our country."
The Athens County Republican Party hosted a debate watch party Sunday, and Keller was among those in attendance. She said the mood at the party was good, and the crowd was excited about Trump as the election continues.
"He got through the nonsense," she said. "We thought he handled the questions well, even if (the moderators) tried to force the debate into the gutter at first."
Missy Pedulla is a freshman studying biochemistry and a member of the Ohio University College Republicans, and she said she was planning to support Trump for president.
"I support his economic and foreign policies, and I believe he will do the best to uphold the Constitution," Pedulla said.
Like Thacker, Pedulla said she was more concerned with Trump's plans for the country than his morals.
"I do not agree, condone or support anything that was said over this past weekend," she said. "However, I am voting for him based on his policies."
