The Politics of Hating Marginalized Groups

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Smoove_B
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The Politics of Hating Marginalized Groups

Post by Smoove_B »

Interesting Twitter thread about a study that was just published regarding the social roots of Trump support, namely:
To examine the nature of Trump support, we identified a unique and powerful predictor of his popularity—animus toward Democratic-linked and traditionally marginalized groups. As the Republican Party grows increasingly white, Christian, and male, it may be tempting to explain Trump’s appeal with partisanship alone. However, that is not the case in these panel data. Trump appears to have been uniquely able to attract support based on preexisting animosity toward these groups. The same cannot be said for other Republican Party officials or the Republican Party itself. Similarly, we find no such pattern among Democratic officials or the Democratic Party.
Conclusion of the Twitter thread here:
This means that there is a faction in American politics that has moved from party to party, can be recruited from either party, and responds especially well to hatred of marginalized groups. They're not just Republicans or Democrats, they're a third faction that targets parties.
Twitter thread (exploring the journal article), shared by the author is here:


First, the people who really like Trump in 2018 are the same ones who really disliked Blacks, Muslims, LGBT+, and Hispanics in 2011. It's NOT THE SAME for the GOP in general, or even for Ryan or McConnell. Trump is drawing on this particular group of people to a unique degree. He is also doing this ACROSS PARTIES. The new MAGA/anti-MAGA conflict is not an entirely partisan one. It's about white Christian supremacy versus a fully multi-racial democracy. The Trump effect occurs most powerfully at the most hateful end of the spectrum (above 0.5 on the animus scale).
I can't say I've seen this all quantified before.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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