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THREAD: Some people object to characterizing support for Trump as evidence of racism. They'll cite other values, or 'economic anxiety' instead. Fortunately, political science research has examined the 2016 election to analyze the source of Trump's support. 1/n
And guess what? There is study after study identifying racial resentment or racist attitudes as a key factor in support for Trump, explicitly considering (or 'controlling for') other factors. 2/n
"racist resentment and anti-immigrant sentiments proved to be important determinants of a Trump vote—even when controlling for more traditional vote-choice determinants." 3/n https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/explaining-the-trump-vote-the-effect-of-racist-resentment-and-antiimmigrant-sentiments/537A8ABA46783791BFF4E2E36B90C0BE
"Trump’s unusually explicit appeals to racial and ethnic resentment attracted strong support from white working-class voters" 4/n https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002716218811309
"anti–Muslim American sentiment is a strong and significant predictor of supporting Trump, even when controlling for a whole host of factors." 5/n
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/700001?casa_token=9IHsbH5hqe8AAAAA%3AYuIHezmy4rkbdam32v1NKOrD8sP4Mi0XTidQLbUXwZsvbsSBv21_KGPcK4MtHME0AlgSmiBtx0A
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/700001?casa_token=9IHsbH5hqe8AAAAA%3AYuIHezmy4rkbdam32v1NKOrD8sP4Mi0XTidQLbUXwZsvbsSBv21_KGPcK4MtHME0AlgSmiBtx0A
Trump's appeal to racist attitudes is evident even in comparison to right-wing populists in other countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK). So yes, we should worry here too! 6/n https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17457289.2018.1441844?casa_token=IShc3sUSf7EAAAAA%3AFmHe8ABv0HPQ6lquuaLls6hL4VAj9vcSOfLjgQurf1egr7rdQkKzcIclQrFGrHxZhHk7UtkslwvX
Think it's only Trump's white male vote that's racist? Nope. Racist attitudes were prevalent among Trump's white women supporters too: 7/n https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07393148.2017.1378296?casa_token=KMPsInTFF90AAAAA%3AasDd8zDiINyB3LtTAlbTQSerg0BxnpgL86GSCxTCbvN2ga8JK6DJNmko6gTzjVzufyH_NBm_u7Be
"although party affiliation was an important predictor of both women’s and men’s vote choice, sexism and racial resentment had a greater influence on voters of both genders" 8/n
http://acme.highpoint.edu/~msetzler/Why_Did_Women_Vote_for_Donald_.pdf
http://acme.highpoint.edu/~msetzler/Why_Did_Women_Vote_for_Donald_.pdf
Scholars have started to explore interrelated factors. The literature as a whole shows that pre-cursors to Trump support include racial attitudes, sexism, and authoritarianism, but an underlying narcissism is at play too: 9/n https://academic.oup.com/poq/article/82/1/110/4885411
All this to say, there is *robust* evidence that Trump supporters have racist attitudes and are sympathetic to his racist messaging. This isn't the *only* factor, but it a huge part of it. Clinging to economic factors or traditional policy differences belies the facts. 10/10
Journalists interested in this thread shouldn't chat with me (I'm not a voting behaviour person). But: you can contact the authors of these studies, or...
... to get Canadian context you might contact any of our excellent elections/political communications/framing/identity experts: @amandabittner @eplusgg @e_tolley @randybesco @jsmatthews99 @PeejLoewen @MelaneeLThomas @allisonrharell (and others I'm accidentally leaving out).
