The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You’re a Trump Supporter

Politico ^ | 1/18/16 | Matthew McWilliams

[Another Post-American]

f I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated?

You’d be wrong.

In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.

That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with authoritarian inclinations. And because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as well as Republicans, it’s very possible that Trump’s fan base will continue to grow.

My finding is the result of a national poll I conducted in the last five days of December under the auspices of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, sampling 1,800 registered voters across the country and the political spectrum. Running a standard statistical analysis, I found that education, income, gender, age, ideology and religiosity had no significant bearing on a Republican voter’s preferred candidate. Only two of the variables I looked at were statistically significant: authoritarianism, followed by fear of terrorism, though the former was far more significant than the latter.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533#ixzz3xf7hJoqW

[kabar]

No, we want COMPETENCE

[flaglady47]

Achtung, you WILL vote for Trump.

[roamer_1]

pssst! The emperor is nekkid!

[JimRed]

And we believe ANYTHING in Politico because...???

Without strong leadership, small-government liberty-minded conservatives are much less effective.

[Paul R.]

"People are frustrated and/or scared, and they are looking for a strong leader to fix things. The problem is, this is precisely what small-government, liberty-minded conservatives don't need."

So, was Reagan a strong leader? (At least in his 1st several years as Pres.)

See what I'm getting at?

I am not equating Trump with Reagan at all. It's just that the premise here is ludicrous.

[Paul R.]

I cannot think of anything more needful of a strong leader than the dismantling of the nanny state. It would take an extraordinarily strong leader just to slow the growth of the bureaucracy...

[hawaiianninja]

I don't think the author's core finding is valid at all; but then again, this is an author from Politico, so that already bodes wariness.

Government is authoritarian by nature: We have it as a means of setting up rules (laws) and provide structure. In our Republic, for which our flag stands, many of us vote for those who we believe will be good stewards of that authority and this country--unless your a Democrat or a RINO. Unfortunately, many of our politicians are corrupt in their stewardship and have stabbed us in the back so many times to the point where our back is beyond sore. Many of us want our freedom from government, not authoritarians to rule over us. We want stewards who can live and abide by the same rules as we all do; not this crony-corrupted polity where the political class has a separate set of laws for themselves and their cronies that's above the rest of us. Many of us want our politicians to work for us and listen to us, as it should be, not the other way around. When we say, we want a wall built on our borders, we expect our government to build it.

[grania]

Shocker. Those who want Trump to the President are those who tend to take charge of a situation and get aggressive about getting it solved. Those who would do what it takes to Make America Great Again.

Uhhhhh.....yeah.

[stilloftyhenight]

So. Someone who doesn’t flip-flop on the issues is an authoritarian? Common sense and basic beliefs are now wrong? Hmmmmm

[PapaBear3625]

This was a "light bulb on" type insight for me - I think it explains a lot of what I've seen (on FR not the least) the last few months. People are frustrated and/or scared, and they are looking for a strong leader to fix things. The problem is, this is precisely what small-government, liberty-minded conservatives don't need.

Standard Dem line: Republicans are Fascists!

[ru4liberty]

Exactly!

[BobL]

We’re not going fix anything by “trimming around the edges”, so yea, a strong leader is needed.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I call BS. You’re a serious statist if you like either Hillary or Bernie.

[Awgie]

BigBob nailed it! Trump all he way. America First! Leaders not Lawyers!

[trebb]

This was a "light bulb on" type insight for me - I think it explains a lot of what I've seen (on FR not the least) the last few months. People are frustrated and/or scared, and they are looking for a strong leader to fix things. The problem is, this is precisely what small-government, liberty-minded conservatives don't need.

I do find some of the commentary in the article a bit goofy/biased, given the overt statism of Democrat policies for decades and their obvious tie to authoritarianism. But nonetheless I think the core finding here is valid.

Then you miss the real point Politico was trying to impress - it ignores the authoritarian despotism/tyranny of an Obama and tries to put it off on Trump.

They're saying we want an Obama - not a strong man.

On the flip side, the People want a strong man who has some sense of moral decency about him - something Politico would never say when trying to describe us - we're Politico's enemies.

[MNJohnnie]

Pure hysteric nonsensical BS.

What we HAVE now is Authoritarianism by a DC Uniparty that basically does NOTHING but what the Donor class wants.

Trumps supporters don’t want a “Dictator” they want a LIBERATOR from the tyranny of the DC Political/Media/Business Oligarchy that pisses all over their concerns in order to keep feeding at the taxpayer money trough.

[Harpotoo]

Well if they equate authoritarian with strength then illary would be a shoe-in for obama’s 3rd term. But it’s Strength that is actually Trump’s trump card and Americans want that, now more than ever!

[huldah1776]

Social psychology = Marketing. Who will be best? The Messiah.