I suggest the interested reader study further the report from Pew Research. In addition, there have been further studies of Trump supporters that have caught my attention in attempting to understand our sharp national divide which continues after this contested election. In some research such as
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/publications/comprehensively-measured-authoritarianism-does-predict-vote-choic,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886917306761 and
https://psmag.com/news/inside-the-minds-of-hardcore-trump-supporters characteristics of hard core Trump supporters include endorsing the view that the world is a dangerous place requiring harsh treatment for deviant minorities. These people support a strong leader who will "who will 'crush evil and take us back to our true path,'" Smith and his co-author, Eric Hanley, conclude." This group believe it is appropriate for one group to dominate another. Anger was a strong emotion among this group. Further study includes https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pops.12647 Trump supporters wanted him to oppose compromise and dominate and fight opponents vigoursly. They supported aggressive actions against opponents. Accepting defeat was anathama.
So are there other characteristics. Marginalized less educated white people agree more with racist exclusionary beliefs and support Trump's undermining of democratic institutions. My previous blog does go into some detail concerning some of these issues.
What interests me now are the less radical hard core group but the many (70,000,000) voters and others who want him to prevail. Asking them why they may say that Trump has been good for the economy. He has put the bureaucracy in the nation on alert and removed unnecessary rules, he supports law and order and will deal with vandalism and stop civil discord with protection of middle class values, and he will keep foreigners and outsiders in their place. When interviewers attempt to discuss these issues pointing out that Trump in fact has not done these things and that the issues supported are no better even worse by his actions they demur, obfuscate, or refuse to continue the interview. Could many of these voters be concerned about the changes occurring in this world. In a few decades white people in U.S.A. will be in the minority. Prejudice against minorities, blacks, LGBTQIA, and women associate with insecurity, fear, and cognitive dissonance is associated with solidarity with a group that supports reactionary policies. Rationalizing about the groups approach is now a characteristic. Martin Luther King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail mentions Reinhold Niebuhr's observation "Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals." Unfortunately our political leanings and group affiliations can overcome our individual moral compass.
https://fee.org/articles/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/?gclid=CjwKCAiAkan9BRAqEiwAP9X6UXRrnhhFoK6qamYmZiYZyThER4CYQQspAw7BD3cD_bmLwchT0DajjBoCUGMQAvD_BwE
Unfortunately, it has taken me some time to accept that many of these people are concerned that racial equality means they will lose some privileges and freedoms, that sexual freedoms threaten their sensibilities, that women right progressing changes in family structure all are too much, etc. Are these prejudices against women, LGBTQIA, and black minorities? Sadly I think so. I continue to have some dialogue with some old friends who are in this camp. We do communicate but free flowing conversations remain difficult.
Leonard
https://www.google.com/search?q=cartoon+Trump+supporter&newwindow=1&sxsrf=ALeKk01c9_WOTfborH7L84AdBoJyi26WDQ:1604927129340&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=4j755riAMQqTUM%252CH-binwq_DsP4BM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRk2XyuAak5JvviESfVFdt2PjJItQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk17y7w_XsAhXLop4KHQPiAuEQ9QF6BAgFEAQ&biw=2560&bih=1297#imgrc=WaBJrrArlkk3bM
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