Study: 23 Percent Of Trump Supporters Show Skepticism Of Democracy

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo



By Caitlin MacNeal | March 21, 2018 10:22 am

A new study from the Democracy Fund’s Voter Study Group found that Americans who back President Donald Trump show the highest level of skepticism for Democracy.

The study found that 23 percent of Trump supporters do not prefer a democracy and that 32 percent favor a “strong leader.” By comparison, 20 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters said they prefer a “strong leader.”

Despite those findings, the study found that about three quarters of those surveyed showed “at least some support for democracy” and that more than half showed “support for the strongest pro-democratic option.” The study also found that support for a strong leader declined for the first time and fell to levels found in 1995.

The Democracy Fund’s study focused on 5,000 people who were interviewed in July 2017 — those respondents had also been interviewed several times since 2011.

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Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-supporters-skeptical-democracy

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Read the results from the study here.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. So the real number is 35 or 40%. Many unwilling to admit this.

[TheSmarterDog]

6. Yeah. I figured 23% was a little low.

[bearsfootball516]

2. Not a huge surprise.

When Putin won reelection a few days ago, I ventured onto a right-wing website to see what posters were saying. It was overwhelmingly positive, saying it was good for Russia to have such a strong, populist leader.

[yallerdawg]

3. Our US Constitution isn't that keen on democracy, either.

Otherwise, Hillary Clinton would be president. As would Al Gore.

[Dave Starsky]

10. Don't blame the Constitution.

The Constitution can't do jack shit if the people in power willfully ignore it.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Go back to Russia

[vi5]

5. So the same brain dead clowns...

...who cried "fascism!!" when told they had to buy the most minimal of health insurance, and who compared the mildest of nudgings to have have kids eat healthy lunchs to a dictatorship, now are completely happy with actual fascism.

Makes sense.

[pangaia]

7. Somehow I'll bet 'strong leader' doesn't mean the same thing

to Hillary supporters as it does to fuckwad supporters.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Yeah, they are all for a powerful leader

As long as that leader does the things they want, which leads to democracy. We should be so lucky to have a benevolent dictator, but in the real world, dictatorships don't seem to inspire benevolence.

[YOHABLO]

8. So what do they believe in a dictator?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. It's exactly the profile of RWAF: Right Wing Authoritarian Followers. Good studies:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8065442

[rockfordfile]

12. trump supporters are un-American.

[Firestorm49]

13. History Ignored

23% of Trump voters don’t prefer Democracy! Our schools have failed these poor uneducated fools. To them, a little history about Nazi Germany would probably be labeled “ fake news”.
What do they really prefer as an alternative? Pure and total communism?
How incredibly short sighted they are, and I’m trying my best not to refer to them as complete fucking morons. Oops!

[StevieM]

16. Interesting question. I believe that the GOP is rapidly moving away from democracy and have been

for many years now. I do believe that Republican leaders like Kris Kobach are genuine fascists.

If the GOP ever succeeds in turning us into a dictatorship then it is possible that there will be a communist counter-revolution.

The ideal solution would be for the United States to remain a democracy. But if one of the two major parties stops believing in democratic government then it could create an unavoidable crisis.

[Mc Mike]

14. Yeah, they hate Democracy. And yet they idolize a leader who's always talking about

his great election 'victory'.

Schizo doublethink.

[Mountain Mule]

15. K&R! nt

[Hortensis]

17. :) What would a study here show? Almost every day

unhappiness is expressed with democracy by people because they think it's getting in the way of what they want. Or they think it's not functioning when it is in its usual imperfect way. We're all committed to democracy, liberalism, progressivism, but often lose sight of what they are.

Btw, there are better books on democracy and liberalism, but this very helpful, informative little thing is selling under $4 now on Amazon and Kindle version for $8.99. Lakoff is emphatically progressive. He almost never mentions Democrats per se, only the principles that motivate people to gather under that umbrella to promote them

“Liberals: Liberty-loving liberals founded our country and enshrined its freedoms. Dedicated, fair-minded liberals ended slavery and brought women the vote. Hardworking liberals fought the goon squads and won workers’ rights: the eight-hour day, the weekend, health plans, and pensions. Courageous liberals risked their lives to win civil rights. Caring liberals have made the vulnerable elderly secure with Social Security and healthy with Medicare. Forward-looking liberals have extended education to everyone. Liberals who love the land have been preserving our environment so you can enjoy it. Nobody loves liberty and life more than a liberal. When conservatives say you’re on your own, we liberals know we’re all in this together. “Liberal”

The progressive-liberal values are America's values, and we need to go back to them. The heart of progressive-liberal values is simple: empathy (caring about and for people) and responsibility (acting responsibly on that empathy). These values translate into a simple principle: Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives. In short, promoting the common good is the central role of government.

― George Lakoff, Communicating Our American Values and Vision

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007WT31BM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[The Wizard]

18. There's no nice way

to say Nazi.

[Oneironaut]

19. Its fairly obvious that the Trumpsters want an American version of Putin.

They adore Putin’s leadership style - the tight control of his government, the constant “othering” and oppression of minority groups, and the jingoism.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Portrait of the authoritarian followers:

The highest levels of support for authoritarian leadership come from those who are disaffected, disengaged from politics, deeply distrustful of experts, culturally conservative, and have negative attitudes toward racial minorities. Those who consume news less frequently are more than 20 points less likely than frequent news consumers to support a “strong leader.” Similarly, nonvoters are about 10 points more likely to express support for a “strong leader.” Cultural conservatives are 20 points more likely than the culturally liberal to support a “strong leader.” Those who say it is fairly or very important for someone to have European heritage to be an American are 30 points more likely to support a “strong leader” than those who decisively reject this racial conception of national identity. Those who are mistrustful of experts are 25 points more likely to support a “strong leader” compared to those who are trusting of experts.

https://www.voterstudygroup.org/publications/2017-voter-survey/follow-the-leader

The Deplorables.