See No Evil: Trump Supporters Are Truly Unaware of His Norm-Breaking Behavior

• In Event: Partisanship, Polarization, and Ideology in the U.S.

Abstract

As one of the most norm-breaking national politicians in recent memory, how does Donald Trump maintain his support among a wide share of the American public? Are Trump supporters aware of this behavior? Do they endorse it?

I explore these questions with an original survey fielded with a nationally representative sample of American adults in 2021 via the Cooperative Election Study. The survey presented participants with short accounts of the most egregious and highly publicized examples of Trump's norm-breaking behavior and statements, including his payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, his claim that he called for a slowdown in testing for COVID, and his comments to "Access Hollywood." Respondents were then asked whether they had heard of the story, whether they believed it, and whether they agreed with what the survey called Trump's "alleged" behavior in the story.

Few Republicans said they approved of Trump's behavior. But many more--even those otherwise highly knowledgeable about politics and public affairs--claimed they were not aware of and did not believe these stories in the first place. In an experiment embedded in the study, half of respondents were asked their level of approval of Trump before reading the stories and the remainder afterward. Approval of Trump was lower among all respondents--including Republicans--in the latter condition. Taken together, these suggest that Trump's support comes in spite of--rather than because of--his unparalled disregard of norms governing the behavior of U.S. presidents.

Author

• Patrick J. Egan, New York University