It
seems that my last blog post set off a firestorm of responses—some of which
came from Trump supporters who objected to the perceived lying of Ted Cruz. For
that reason, I have looked up the lies that both candidates have issued. They
are documented in the URL’s listed below. It seems to me, from looking at these
two web sites that neither candidate is immune to lying or to making mistakes
in political statements. I invite you to look at these sites and make up your
own minds. Politics seems like a dirty business, to me!
The
responses I received taught me one thing. I made a mistake saying that Trump supporters
are “ignorant and uneducated.” That was a rude mistake; and I apologize for it.
I have found that among my critics there are those who are educated and
thoughtful people.
So…I
set out to see what polls say about who the Trump supporters are and what do
they think. The following is what I found: In an article in the Atlantic, 1 March 2016, there was a compilation
of polls describing the demographics of Trump supporters. It found that---
1) Trump supporters are characterized by a
lack of college degrees. This lack of higher education has fueled falling real
wages over the past 25 years among those who support Donald Trump. According to
the Hamilton Project, real wages have
fallen 20% for non-college educated men over the past 25 years!
2)
A
feeling of voicelessness has bothered and motivated many in the Trump camp. They
usually responded positively to a polling question that said, “People like me
don’t have any say about what the government does.” This feeling of
powerlessness was a much better predictor of Trump support than age, race,
college attainment, income, attitudes towards Muslims, illegal immigrants, or
Hispanic identity.
3) Trump supporters characteristically feel
threatened by immigration of foreigners into the United States.
4) Trump supporters strongly favor raising
taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
5) Trump supporters feel despondent about
their place in America. This has led to a theme of Trump’s rhetoric: America is
losing; Donald Trump is a winner; and if Trump becomes president, America will
become a winner, too. This Great Man Theory of political change, however,
strikes others as potentially dangerous...
6) Trump supporters want to wage an interior
war against outsiders. There is a strong feeling among his supporters that
terrorists are about to destroy America. Trump supporters strongly believe in identifying
threatening outsiders and granting individuals special powers to pursue aggressive
policies to destroy them. The strongest indication of Trump support in South
Carolina was not income, education, or age. It was the fear of personal injury
from terrorism. (This fear is manifest across wide sections of the American
polity; and I must admit that I, also, share in this fear. But…the Trump
followers seem quite willing to accept an authoritarian in office as a tradeoff
for better security.) He has said that he would kill the families of ISIS
members to stop their advance. He has promised to shut down mosques, keep a
database of Muslims, and round up the children of illegal immigrants. He
promises to protect his white in-group from non-white outsiders. It seems hard
to reconcile traditional American values with these threats.
7) According to the New York Times, Nate Cohn, using data from Civis Analytics, Trump support is strongest in areas of the
southeast most marked by racial resentment. Of course, this does not say that
racial animus is a driver of Trump support; but there is the suggestion that
might be the case.
8) It is also interesting that Trump
supporters attend church less frequently than do the Cruz supporters.
I
am still very upset at the quality of candidates our American people have
chosen to represent us as our President. Can’t we find a righteous man to run
for this high office?!!
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