98 Percent Trump Voters Would Vote Again
February 5, 2021
New nationwide survey shows MAGA supporters' beliefs about the pandemic, the election and the insurrection
A new University of Washington study examines the beliefs of fervent Trump supporters about the pandemic, the election and the January riot at the U.Southward. Capitol.Blink O'fanaye
In the wake of the Capitol riot and on the eve of sometime President Trump's 2d impeachment trial, new information from the Academy of Washington reveals the attitudes and beliefs that are growing within the Republican Party.
Surveys of hundreds of fervent Trump voters, whom researchers refer to equally Make American Great Again (MAGA) supporters, reveal stiff beliefs that the election was stolen; that COVID-19 is a bioweapon from Mainland china; and that the riot was the work of antifa. The data, collected only before and after the Capitol riot, is believed to be the simply information of its kind, shedding light on MAGA supporters' opinions most race, gender, the pandemic and the 2020 election.
The data also uncovers demographic data that may dispel some myths nigh hard-core Trump supporters: Almost half of MAGA adherents, for instance, roughly one-half earn at to the lowest degree $l,000 a year, considered middle-income by many standards, and approximately i-3rd take at least a college caste.
"Right now, these people feel like they're losing their land and their identity. They feel similar they're being displaced by communities of color, past feminists and by immigrants. These people are motivated by what they see as an existential threat to their way of life," said Christopher Sebastian Parker, professor of political science at the UW and co-writer of the research.
The results have not nevertheless been peer-reviewed and will be submitted to an academic periodical, Parker said.
The impetus for the study was something Parker and co-author Rachel Blum of the University of Oklahoma take been pursuing in their individual research for years: what drives the Trump wing of the GOP, which in many ways builds on the Tea Political party movement of a decade ago. The two researchers planned an online survey to exist administered in late 2020—regardless of who won the Nov ballot—by placing ads on Facebook, identifying MAGA affinity groups. Well-nigh 1,500 people completed the survey at the end of Dec.
Then, after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Parker and Blum again surveyed respondents who had supplied their e-mail addresses in the beginning wave of the study, providing rare insight into MAGA supporters' beliefs and perspectives before and later that celebrated event. This time, about 300 people responded.
"The historic nature of the Capitol Riot, and the involvement of MAGA supporters, forced us to re-interview people sooner than we preferred. But we needed to capture how the event may have affected their opinions on the land," Parker said.
Results of the Console Study of the MAGA Movement are grouped by categories: demographics of the respondent and their views on democracy and the election, on the Capitol anarchism, on COVID-19, and on "difference"—namely, race, gender and other characteristics.
Highlights of the findings include:
- Nearly all (98%) of respondents said they believe Trump's ballot fraud claims and distrust the bodily results of the presidential ballot;
- About 90% said voting "shouldn't be easier"
- More than than two-thirds said Trump bears no responsibility for the events of January. half dozen – roughly the aforementioned percentage that laid the arraign on antifa
- At least 90% said Trump was honest about COVID-19, and that state and local authorities restrictions related to the pandemic should be loosened
- Near all said they were concerned that "forces are changing our country for the worse" and "the American style of life is disappearing"
The findings related to "departure"– race, gender and immigration condition — provide an additional lens through which to view the MAGA motility, Parker said.
On race, significant majorities of respondents agreed with statements similar "Black people should work their way up like other minorities" and "Black people would exist as well off every bit white people if they tried." Along the same lines, a majority disagreed with statements such as "Slavery/bigotry made working up difficult for Black people" and "Black people take gotten less than they deserve."
Similar themes emerged in the results regarding women and immigration. A majority of respondents agreed with statements such as "Women interpret innocent remarks as sexist," "Feminists are seeking more power than men," and "Immigration is changing our culture for the worse."
Such statements are a reaction to decades of change, from the civil rights and women'due south movements of the 1960s, to the election of President Obama and an increasingly multiracial society, Parker said: "Like clockwork, whenever racial progress occurs, it'southward followed—in short lodge—by racial retrenchment. Reconstruction, the Ceremonious Rights Motion, and the ballot of Barack Obama, are the near prominent examples."
Accessing supporters through affinity groups fell within a narrow window of opportunity, Parker said, given Facebook'southward eventual crackdown on posts and pages that promoted baseless and dangerous ideas, and many conservatives' departure to other platforms.
In the second wave of the study – the mail-riot portion – researchers also sought to determine what role race might have played in MAGA supporters' perspectives on events. Parker and Blum devised questions about whether the Jan. half dozen riot was justified based on the idea that the election was stolen. If so, was it because of voter fraud in Pennsylvania and Georgia, or considering of voter fraud in Philadelphia and Atlanta, two cities predominantly made upwardly of people of color.
Results showed 25 pct more of the respondents believed the riot was justified when the cities were mentioned, compared when simply usa were included.
To farther highlight supporters' views on the Capitol anarchism Parker and Blum then created word clouds, based on the themes that emerged when study participants described the events of Jan. vi. The word clouds below show the pattern in how MAGA supporters characterized events more often than not every bit "small," "peaceful," and a "protest" or "rally" (Topic 1) and on the most frequent terms used in explaining the crusade of the riot (Topic two).
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- This word cloud shows that study participants mostly describe the events of Jan. half-dozen with terms similar "protest," "people" and "peaceful."
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- In this word deject, terms such as "antifa," "BLM" and "Democrats" dominated MAGS supporters' caption for what caused the riot.
Parker and Blum annotation in the study that these responses represented a puzzling mix, in terms of how the Capitol riot is viewed — in some ways as a peaceful protest of the election, but too as a anarchism incited by antifa and Black Lives Matter.
In the finish, Parker said, the written report shows the popularity of more extremist views within the Republican Party, a pattern that dates back to the early 1960s when the party was divided between the more reactionary Sunbelt conservatives, and the more institution East Coast conservatives. The same pattern is essentially repeating itself. It's no wonder, he said, that members of the party are fighting over whether to punish Congressional Republicans who voted for impeachment and/or those who promote conspiracy theories.
"I of the two major political parties is substantially captured past these people. They're non going away whatsoever time soon. They were here before Trump, and they'll be here later Trump," Parker said.
Results of the study, including charts and data on data drove and survey methodology, are available hither.
For more data, contact Parker at csparker@uw.edu.
Tag(s): Christopher Parker • Higher of Arts & Sciences • Department of Political Scientific discipline
Source: https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/02/05/new-nationwide-survey-shows-maga-supporters-beliefs-about-the-pandemic-the-election-and-the-insurrection/
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