I've been trying to say this all along.
Race, bigotry, fear and xonophobia was the main driving factor behind his support.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/28/opinions/trump-base-economy-myth-opinion-zelizer/index.html
Democrats need to stop believing this myth about Trump's base
The big myth about the 2016 presidential election was that economic suffering drove most of Donald Trump's "base" directly into his hands in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The story goes that while Democrats were tied in knots about identity politics, Trump's attacks on China, free trade and open-ended immigration appealed to struggling workers who believed he could bring back their jobs.
The problem with the narrative is that we keep learning it is not true.
Some Democrats have responded to the widely circulated misconception about why Clinton lost by insisting that the party needs to move away from identity politics -- issues revolving around gender equality and racial justice -- and focus in on economic issues.
Instead, Democrats should be basing their 2020 election strategy on what is actually true.
A just-published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by the political scientist Diana Mutz found that white, Christian, male voters were attracted to Trump out of fear that their social status keeps dwindling. It was, in fact, Trump who was focused on identity politics, not simply the Democrats.
Mutz's research found that members of Trump's base believed they faced more discrimination as white males than most other groups, such as Muslims. "For the first time since Europeans arrived in this country, white Americans are being told that they will soon be a minority race," she writes.
To play off of Bill Clinton's 1992 famous campaign slogan, "It's the economy, Stupid," we might say: "It's the culture, Stupid."
Mutz's research offers a window into understanding why President Trump can promote a Reaganesque economic agenda that is so clearly at odds with his campaign promises.
While the President keeps talking about the common man and woman, most of his economic policies, such as his tax overhaul or financial deregulations, have aimed to provide relief to corporations, investors, and families in the upper income brackets. But it is key to understand that his legislative actions are happening simultaneously with his continued rhetoric -- attacks on immigrants, civil rights, gender equality, and anyone who dares to stand up for the ideas that he likes to deride as "political correctness" -- that secured the support of his base to begin with.
So, although these attacks are sometimes seen as a "distraction," they are the main show, as Mutz's research demonstrates -- and they seem to be working. The nation is in the middle of a battle over what this country is about. Trump's attacks on immigrants and other groups seem to sit well with white male voters who fear that other segments of society are gradually displacing them.
continued at link
Race, bigotry, fear and xonophobia was the main driving factor behind his support.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/28/opinions/trump-base-economy-myth-opinion-zelizer/index.html
Democrats need to stop believing this myth about Trump's base
The big myth about the 2016 presidential election was that economic suffering drove most of Donald Trump's "base" directly into his hands in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The story goes that while Democrats were tied in knots about identity politics, Trump's attacks on China, free trade and open-ended immigration appealed to struggling workers who believed he could bring back their jobs.
The problem with the narrative is that we keep learning it is not true.
Some Democrats have responded to the widely circulated misconception about why Clinton lost by insisting that the party needs to move away from identity politics -- issues revolving around gender equality and racial justice -- and focus in on economic issues.
Instead, Democrats should be basing their 2020 election strategy on what is actually true.
A just-published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by the political scientist Diana Mutz found that white, Christian, male voters were attracted to Trump out of fear that their social status keeps dwindling. It was, in fact, Trump who was focused on identity politics, not simply the Democrats.
Mutz's research found that members of Trump's base believed they faced more discrimination as white males than most other groups, such as Muslims. "For the first time since Europeans arrived in this country, white Americans are being told that they will soon be a minority race," she writes.
To play off of Bill Clinton's 1992 famous campaign slogan, "It's the economy, Stupid," we might say: "It's the culture, Stupid."
Mutz's research offers a window into understanding why President Trump can promote a Reaganesque economic agenda that is so clearly at odds with his campaign promises.
While the President keeps talking about the common man and woman, most of his economic policies, such as his tax overhaul or financial deregulations, have aimed to provide relief to corporations, investors, and families in the upper income brackets. But it is key to understand that his legislative actions are happening simultaneously with his continued rhetoric -- attacks on immigrants, civil rights, gender equality, and anyone who dares to stand up for the ideas that he likes to deride as "political correctness" -- that secured the support of his base to begin with.
So, although these attacks are sometimes seen as a "distraction," they are the main show, as Mutz's research demonstrates -- and they seem to be working. The nation is in the middle of a battle over what this country is about. Trump's attacks on immigrants and other groups seem to sit well with white male voters who fear that other segments of society are gradually displacing them.
continued at link