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Is Trump’s base racist? Social scientists begin to weigh in (www.sfchronicle.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ptz@dubvee.org to c/politics@lemmy.world

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President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters are motivated by their prejudices, not economic concerns, social scientists contend. Will Democrats stop trying to win their votes?

In January, Smith and his University of Kansas colleague, associate sociology professor Eric A. Hanley, published a 47-page paper deconstructing the Republican president’s appeal. Building on decades of scholarship about the lure of authoritarianism and their own analysis of American voting psychology in 2012 and 2016, the social scientists make an argument that some may find offensive and others unsurprising.

It goes something like this: Trump’s biggest supporters are motivated by bigotry and want him to hurt the people they dislike.

Note: There's a lot to unpack in this article, and this just seems to be the hook.

(page 2) 24 comments

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[-] Goodmorningsunshine@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

lololololololololololol

[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 2 points 1 year ago

a man sitting in front of a keyboard with an ecstatic look, pumping both fists. in block letters at the bottom is the text "WOW! Old news is so exciting!" This is a very old meme.

[-] ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

…yes

[-] Zenith@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thinking back to my boomer mother trying to explain why her racist friends and sister in law weren’t racist they were just experiencing “economic anxiety” 🙄 Like poor people or POC aren’t in the exact same or worse economic position??

[-] Don_alForno@feddit.org 2 points 1 year ago

No! What? I'm shocked! Shocked! You hear me? Shocked!

[-] yournamehere@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

"are we the baddies?"

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this post was submitted on 19 May 2025

256 points (95.7% liked)

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