March 14, 2016
KONFEDERATES:
What Trump Supporters Were Doing Before Trump (Dan Hopkins, 3/14/15, 538)Already, we know a fair bit about Trump supporters. Demographically, they are often white, male and without college degrees. They are disproportionately drawn from the ranks of registered Democrats who vote like Republicans. (Or else they're named Chris Christie.) ]...]
On social issues, the differences are more noteworthy. Trump backers were far more pro-choice than Cruz or Rubio supporters, at 0.63 (0.67 is equivalent to agreeing that "abortion should be available, but with stricter limits"). That's not far from Clinton backers' 0.73. By contrast, Cruz supporters' 0.39 puts them closer to the view represented by 0.33: "Abortion should not be permitted except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the woman is at risk." In that light, maybe Trump's defenses of Planned Parenthood make more sense. Trump supporters were also a bit more supportive of gay marriage than Cruz supporters, although the difference isn't nearly as pronounced. ]...]
These results also reaffirm what others have pointed out about white Trump supporters' levels of prejudice: They are higher than those of Cruz or Rubio supporters. For our 2012 measure of white-black prejudice, white respondents were asked to assess whites and blacks on different stereotypes such as intelligence and work ethic.2 We then subtract people's views of whites from their views of blacks, so that 0 indicates someone who endorses negative stereotypes only about whites while 1 indicates someone endorsing negative stereotypes only about blacks. A 0.50 indicates a respondent who rates whites and blacks equally on average, while the 0.58 of Trump supporters indicates markedly more positive ratings of whites relative to blacks. Is prejudice among the distinguishing attitudes of Trump backers? In a word, yes.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 14, 2016 8:14 AM