The appeal of Donald Trump to angry low information voters

examiner.com ^ | 9 9 2015

[dennisw]

Aside from being a loud egomaniacal celebrity showman, there are a number of reasons why Donald Trump is leading his GOP rivals with the support of a far-right segment of the Republican Party aka the Trumpsters.

Let's begin with the fact that most Trumpsters are birthers and STILL believe that President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya. I kid you not. Public Policy Polling ("PPP") just released the results of their new poll showing that 61 percent of Trump's supporters still don’t believe President Obama was born in America and 62 percent think he is a secret Muslim who has lied about his true religious affiliation, and 63 percent want the U.S. Constitution amended to end birthright citizenship.

However, while these percentages are higher than those of the overall GOP electorate polled by PPP, a majority of Republicans still agreed on two out of the three: 54 percent thought Obama was a Muslim, and 51 percent supported ending birthright citizenship, while only 44 percent still believe Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.

This ignorance despite the FACT that the President’s campaign in 2008 posted his legal birth certificate showing a live birth in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th, 1961; despite the fact that President Obama has for over 20 years professed to be a devout Christian and spoken publicly of his "personal relationship with Jesus Christ"; despite no sightings of the President attending a mosque, no pictures of him reading the Koran, or praying to Mecca, or observing Islamic holidays with his family. Most Americans know this nonsense was largely driven by Trump and the racist ignorant birther myth feeds right into the right-wing’s hate for this President.

[Amendment10]

"Let's begin with the fact that most Trumpsters are birthers and STILL believe that President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya. I kid you not."

Obama sealed his personal records so that citizens could not know the truth about him, yet citizens are still ridiculed for believing “rumors” concerning Obama’s upbringing.

[dennisw]

I’m kinda joking but serious that there is huge pool of people who make their voting decisions based on on minimal and frivolous information. They are 80% dependable to vote Democrat. But this year Trump has a lot of their support right now and they will vote for Trump 60-70% in an election against Hillary

[dennisw]

Trump sat in the Marble Collegiate and learned about the power of positive thinking.

His parents were followers of Norman Vincent Peale who was the prime advocate of positive thinking. I am sure young Donald sat in that church many times with his folks

[DoughtyOne]

I’ll grant you that is interesting.

It seems to me all this talk about low-information voters is intended to embarrass folks into thinking they must be flawed if they like Trump.

I read a lot here. FReepers probably know issues better than 95 to 99% of the populace. They may not always get it right, but they have generally been exposed to the dynamics of arguments far in excess of the general public.

For instance:

Right now we’re faced with a colorful self-promoter who is promising Conservative fixes for a number of issues.

Some folks dismiss him based on comments and donations he has made in the past. I would state right now, that in campaigns past, I would have rejected Trump on general principles.

This go-round having watched who was nominated from our party since Reagan, I realize we’re not going to get our traditional “Conservative” nominated. So what to do?

Do we ignore Trump and do what we’ve always done, knowing what we always wind up with, or do we back a guy that can get elected that at least promises us he’ll do what we want?

I’m selecting the latter, but it isn’t based on low information. It’s based on reality.

It’s based on looking at the candidates for exactly who they are. It’s based on prior general election dynamics. It’s based on realizing that if we don’t have our act together going into the primaries, we’ll wind up with a Bush, Christie, or Fiorina type.

It’s also taking into consideration that there are other good people in the field. Carson is a good person. He is intelligent. He is highly successful. He is well respected. Does that translate into being a forceful, political leader who can ramrod his vision through over the objections of people like Boehner and McConnell?

Tell me more than a few percent of the populace can understand these dynamics to the extent FReepers can, and I’ll have to disagree.

Now although that is my opinion, I still think people have instinctively realized this is what they are facing. They won’t have all the background we do, but they are still coming down (IMO) right on the subject.

Kudos to them. They are thinking.

It was obvious what the populace was doing when voting for Obama. At the time the media was oblivious. Now they try to say the Trump voter is the same as an Obama supporter. That is not true.

Obama had no past to point to. Trump undeniable does.

Obama is living in the same skewed word he’s always lived in.

Trump is now living in a political world, totally different than the real estate mogul’s world.

He is having to evaluate thing by a new set of rules. He’s not just glad handing, today he’s taking on a new responsibility, and he’s having to look at things differently.

I think he’s done an admirable job so far.

Folks, Trump is not going to be perfect. There will be times we’ll probably want to strangle him. There will also be times when we’ll want to thank him for doing something others wouldn’t even promise to do.

Low information? The more information, the better Trump looks. On less information, I would object to him.

We’re playing with the cards we’ve been dealt. After two terms of Obama, I have skin in this game. I want to vote in November 2016.

Bush, Fiorina, Christie... I won’t.

Trump/Cruz 2016.

[dfwgator]

In today’s world, you need Low-Info Voter votes to win.

Milquetoasts, like Romney, don’t get those votes.

[FunkyZero]

I posted a fact. You called me an ass, now stupid. FOAD. end of conversation

[dennisw]

For sure John McCain got more low-info voters than Mitt Romney. Just from being a an ex-POW.
Obama is the king of low info voters because he had a lock on low-info minority voters. I have heard in some immigrant communities palm cards are distributed to remind them who their bosses/jefes/what have you would like them voting for in the many offices and referendums.

[Hawthorn]

>> DT was just on the phone with Jake Tapper on CNN. His knack for free PR is amazing <<

Well, sure, and he’ll keep getting the free publicity as long as the Jake Tappers of the world take his phone calls and put him on the air. But the media will almost never do the same for another candidate, unless that candidate makes headlines by saying or doing something that seems outrageous.

So if Ted Cruz wants to get a heap of free publicity, he simply needs to start insulting just about everybody in sight, especially the media people and the other candidates. But you know he’s not going to do so, because he’s fundamentally a decent, serious and honorable man.

[Hawthorn]

>> How many Ph.D.s do you need for the group not to be “low information?” <<

Impeccable peer-reviewed empirical studies by well-qualified biostatisticians have found time and again that the collective wisdom of any group is inversely proportional to the number of Post-Hole Diggers in that group.

[Hawthorn]

>> it’s fun to watch him <<

Agreed 100%. And IMO that's exactly why he's getting so much coverage.

>> he is a complete nuisance to the MSM, they just don’t know how to handle him <<

Gotta disagree with you on that point. I think the media know exactly what they're doing. Trump is great for the ratings. The bigwigs at each media company gather in their conference rooms every morning and go thru the "overnights" for each segment of each program. They see how the numbers shoot up whenever DT phones in to a show or whenever a panel has a Trump-centered tete-à-tete.

I'd say Trump is sorta like a number one single (with a bullet?) on the Billboard charts. Mariah Carey spent 16 weeks at the top in 1996 with "One Sweet Day." That run seems to have been the longest in the pop category since the 1970's, but on the country charts, Hank Snow, Webb Pierce and Elvis did better during the 1950's, which saw Snow hitting 21 weeks with "I'm Movin' On."

Therefore, if we assume that DT has approximately the same celebrity status and entertainment value as Mariah Carey had in 1996 or as Hank Snow had during the 1950's, he should be able to stay at the top of the charts up to 21 weeks. He got into the race formally on June 16. So he's been topping the charts now for about 13 weeks. These numbers tell me that a fickle public may get satiated with his current hit single at some time over the next eight weeks. Just something to think about.

[Hawthorn]

>> after [Trump’s] policy paper on the 2nd Amendment <<

You’re saying that makes him a conservative? Harry Reid has a good record of 2A support. Does that make him also a conservative?

[Hoboken]

I agree. Although Walker has a record of taking on entrenched gov’t unions and kicking their collective asses. But for now, Trump is putting the third world invasion on the table and taking the arrows. We owe him big-time for that.

[Fred Nerks]

Victor Mooney with H.E. Roman Obama, Charge de Affairs and Dr. Jose MBA Nguema, Second Secretary at Equatorial Guinea Embassy to the United States

source

posted by: equitorialguineaonline.com December 3rd, 2014

~~~~~

The Kenyan student Barack Hussein Obama photographed shortly before his death with an unidentified young man.

~~~~

Foreign Students Stuck in Moscow

Is this the son of the Kenyan student and Anna born in Hawaii in January 1961 and named after his father? The child Mary babysat in Seattle, when her own daughter who was born in July 1959 was 18 months of age?

[LucyT]

Check out # 79 , and then read to end of page.

Thanks, David.

.

[Brown Deer]

Donald Trump is a Hard-Core Conservative.

[papertyger]

You’re saying that makes him a conservative? Harry Reid has a good record of 2A support. Does that make him also a conservative?

Having a "good record" (according to the NRA) and proposing sweeping expansion of concealed carry rights are vastly different. Yes, that makes him a conservative, just not a "movement conservative."

[papertyger]

I posted a fact. You called me an ass, now stupid. FOAD. end of conversation

What "fact" was that; that Boner and McConnell lied? Aside from that, all you posted was your opinion, and that's only tangentially related to your only fact.

As for "FOAD," if you can't stand the heat, Nancy....

[gogeo]

Very well said! I’m with you.

[gogeo]

Well said! I agree 100%.

[gogeo]

Yes, yes, and yes.