Posted on 11/12/2020 12:12:08 PM PST by Kaslin
According to a post-election survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, the biggest ‘shy Trump’ constituency of 2020 was a white, college-educated woman.
Days before the presidential election, establishment media like The Washington Post claimed the “shy Trump voter” was no longer a thing. On-brand with big media’s track record of being wrong, exit polls are telling the opposite story.
Indeed, there was a “shy Trump voter,” but it wasn’t the blue-collar worker pollsters missed in 2016. Instead, the shy Trump voter of 2020 was a highly educated “she.”
According to a post-election survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, the biggest “shy Trump” constituency of 2020 was a white, college-educated woman. Of all Trump voters, 19 percent said they kept their support for the president a secret from most of their friends, compared to just 8 percent of Joe Biden voters who did the same.
The survey found the shy Trump voter accounted for 4 percent of the overall electorate—and 64 percent of that group were women. Of course, the exit polling could be wrong. In fact, the actual percentage of shy Trump voters is likely higher. After all, the very definition of one is someone who declines to disclose his vote.
As political science professor Eric Kaufmann put it in an article exploring “Who are the real Shy Trumpers?,” “political correctness has left a cadre of white college graduates unwilling to reveal their voting intentions.” Kaufmann offers evidence that there is a shy Trump vote coming not from white, working-class MAGA supporters but from affluent Republican-leaning voters in the suburbs who are afraid to share their views on politics and hot-button cultural issues in public.
The fact that President Trump received more than half of the white female vote thus far is nothing short of astounding compared to the narrative of the past four years: That white, suburban women were leaving Trump and the Republican Oarty in droves. Fake evidence presented by a Democrat Party and their friends in the media who desperately wished it to be true came from the midterm election—which historically almost always swings in favor of the party not in control of the White House—and from pink you-know-what hats protesting in cities that always vote blue.
In reality, here’s what was happening on the ground: “I got called a white supremacist and a racist so I kept it to myself so I wouldn’t hear those words,” one woman told Public Opinion Strategies, as reported in its post-election survey. A sampling of others said: “I had neighbors say they would like to kill all Trump supporters. These were people with whom I really got along with well.”
“It was for my own safety. Some of my friends could be very negative. I did not want friendships to end.” “I have had three people unfriend me on Facebook.”
It’s ironic that those who now claim the country needs “unity” were so hostile to right-leaning voters that millions of them felt the need to conceal their vote. But when 50 percent of strong liberals support firing Trump donors, the threat to their livelihoods is real.
The shy Trump voter phenomenon is explained in a 2020 Cato survey that found that Republicans with the most education were the most worried their political views could cause them harm at work. Sixty percent of those surveyed with postgraduate degrees feared financial penalty for their political views, compared to just 25 percent of Democrats. The more education Republicans received, the more they worried their political views could cause them harm at work.
Instead of risking financial penalty or friendships from sharing their views, highly educated Trump supporters conceal their views socially but voice them at the polls. While sad, it’s understandable.
Suburban women with college degrees often have families at home. As Generra Peck, senior advisor at N2 America, found in her research of this group, suburban women choose to live in the suburbs because “they value things like good schools, they value law and order, [and] they value a strong economy.” These are policies Republicans support. But suburban women “overwhelmingly” refuse to even talk about voting for Trump because they worry about how they’ll be perceived amongst their peers.
Beyond the political implications, the most important takeaway of the shy Trump vote is for college-educated conservative women to know they’re not alone. Behind them is a growing army of strong, independent, educated women who dare to think and vote on their own.
Scrolling through Instagram, it rarely feels that way. But social media distorts our views about where the country stands politically. Instead of making us feel connected, it makes us feel alone.
Until the left decides to change course and do more than tell us what tolerance is, the trend of self-censorship will get worse. Instead of having robust conversations and debate, we’ll have a political climate where half the country shuts up, except for when they vote.
I can retire any day I want. If I was fired tomorrow, I’d be fine with it. Because of that, I have an odd peace about saying what’s on my mind. I always try to be nice, but it’s “cute” when leftists try to threaten me. I’m untouchable, from their perspective. Tell my boss. Tell my workmates. Fine with me.
I was extremely confident that the polls showed a hidden support for Trump, and that the race was closer to 50-48 nearly the entire year. Which is where is ended up. The big difference this time was that Biden consistently polled around 50 from the time he announced. This was MUCH higher than Hillary polled. So even though I knew there was a hidden trump vote, I also knew it wasn’t going to be enough to win the popular vote, and that Trumps best hope was to win via the electoral college like in 2016.
“But suburban women “overwhelmingly” refuse to even talk about voting for Trump because they worry about how they’ll be perceived amongst their peers.”
It is most unfortunate that they have peers that are idiots. Presumably the peers are Demrats, but you all already knew that when I said idiots.
They sure weren’t shy about voting for Clinton in 1992 and 1996!
Most polls are intended to form / manipulate public opinion - not simply to report on it.
I agree with this. Degreed up and know I have to always be vigilant. The thought control is rampant.
On a bit of an unrelated point, the term “shy Trump voter” IMO is a left-handed insult to Trump voters because the liberal media and dishonest pollsters couldn’t get US to cooperate with their evil plans. Anybody that witnessed a Trump rally knows we’re not shy, we just don’t think its anybodys DAMN businesss who we are voting for....especially a barrel of snakes like the dispicable media....Just my 2 cent
I believe it.
Many good gals are a wife and a mother and a Christian. That’s not a woman leftists like much, and ACB’s trashing did not go un-noticed by our good women.
Those good women, and especially mothers, want safety and security. That’s not what riots provide. That’s not what losing your job for being conservative provides. It IS what Trump is trying hard to provide.
Our good women are seeing and understanding, more and more, how truly bad, even evil, leftist and Democrat leaders are.
Now, if only more blacks would see...
I can so relate.
I am so glad this article was posted. I was so sick of so much venom by many male Freepers on this board. I know lots of other women and many, most are strong Trump supporters, but there are also lots of really nasty leftist women have moved into the suburbs from the coasts, and they don’t mind being really ugly toward those with conservative values and who support Trump. I don’t mind saying what I think, my kids are grown and I could care less about being seen as “cool” in our suburb, but I had a strong feeling all those statements about the woke suburban woman were not true. Many just feel like they will vote for who they want but not take the grief in public. I hope more articles like this come out.
I like it!!!
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