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From Reluctant to Radical: A Examination of Trump Supporters

Sun, August 11, 10:30 to 11:30am, New York Hilton, Floor: Third Floor, Trianon Ballroom

Abstract

In the two years since the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, many have sought to understand the circumstances that led to such an unlikely outcome. Scholars, journalists, and political pundits have each attempted to discover what it was about Trump that led to him gaining enough support to eventually win the presidency. However, much of the literature examining Trump supporters and their reasons for their support relies on survey data or generally treats Trump supporters as a monolithic group. Public opinion polls consistently show that Trump enjoys overwhelming support from conservatives in general, with approval ratings among Republicans reliably above 80%. This means that, while a great deal of attention has been given to the diehard Trump supporters that show up at rallies, a great deal of support for Trump comes from mainstream conservatives. This raises the question: Just how much support does Trump engender among his various supporters? Do the same factors that motivate his diehard supporters also motivate his more moderate supporters, and if so are they motivated to the same degree? I seek to address these questions through an in-depth analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews of rural Trump supporters in 2018. I argue that Trump supporters are be divided into three groups: reluctant Trumpers, those who support some of what Trump says and does but whose support is marginal or questionable; moderate Trumpers, those who generally support Trump’s policies but still question some of his activities; and radical Trumpers, those who fiercely support nearly everything Trump says and does. I find that four factors distinguish these different groups: sources of news and information, incitement to violence, antipluralism, and conspiratorial thinking.

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