Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
Authoritarian voters pushed Trump to victory. Can they do it again?
Donald Trump took advantage of American’s authoritarian streak in 2016 and has been busily eroding democratic norms ever since
www.theguardian.com
A Vox/Morning Consult survey found that “44% of white respondents nationwide scored as ‘high’ or ‘very high’ authoritarians”. There were authoritarian voters in both political parties, but “more than 65% of people who scored highest on the authoritarianism questions were GOP voters”. They asked respondents what made them fearful and found that they “most fear threats that come from abroad” but they also feared internal threats that they viewed as undermining the stability of the social hierarchy. These internal threats could be “in the form of rising diversity” or “any changes, political or economic, that disrupt social hierarchies” or were viewed as threatening authoritarian voters’ “status quo as they know it”.
Its a long and thoughtful article that attempts to explain trumps win in 2016. Its not complete as it doesnt mention low education standards but it is a thoughtful piece.