The “Trump” Voter

Obviously, there’s no absolute template for the voters who back Trump and/or the Republican Party unconditionally, but there is a range of beliefs and attitudes which are far more common to such individuals than they are to those who are less than enamored of Trump or of the Republican Party.

One trait is a belief that Democrats/Liberals have debased the American system as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. More conservative voters have a greater tendency to reject various changes to our system as un-American or unconstitutional, despite the fact that the Founding Fathers specifically provided for a method of changing the system.

Another trait is a belief that the United States should “protect” and enshrine in law “traditional” religious beliefs, even going so far as trying to legislate one set of religious beliefs into law while fulminating against others and against other nations that have enshrined a different set of beliefs into law. They tend to ignore the Founding Fathers’ express desire to separate church and state, by claiming that the framers of the Constitution always meant “freedom of religion” only so long as that religion was some form of Christianity, although that was certainly not written into the Constitution… or even the Federalist papers.

From what I’ve observed, many Trump voters are angry about social and economic changes that they believe have left them in a poorer position. They also believe that government programs have unfairly elevated others, particularly minorities and recent immigrants, and that too much federal spending goes to the undeserving, which they label as socialism, but they tend to ignore the benefits of government that accrue to them. In general, they tend to view any government program that does not benefit them directly as wasteful and unnecessary.

A significant percentage of Trump and hardcore Republican voters are strong, if not fanatical, believers in the right to bear arms of any sort that an individual can carry, and oppose any restriction on what they see as an unconditional Constitutional right.

Despite the fact that every single person on the North American continent is either an immigrant or a descendent of immigrants, pro-Trump voters tend to be far more skeptical and critical of immigrants. They also tend to favor a more isolationist U.S. position in the world.

From what I’ve seen and heard, Trump voters and ultra-conservatives tend to believe the best times are behind the U.S. and generally oppose change, unless that change is to undo previous governmental action. They’re also more for economic growth, regardless of whether that growth creates enormous environmental degradation.

Those are the most obvious tendencies and traits that I’ve observed over the years, and there may be others as well. I’m not saying that the more liberal Democrats also don’t have identifiable traits as well, but that’s another post.

2 thoughts on “The “Trump” Voter”

  1. Postagoras says:

    Many thanks for this entry and your entry on The Ultra-Liberal voter.

    It’s very interesting to hear the perspective of an experienced and thoughtful person.

    I guess there’s a third category, as well. After all, around half of the eligible voters didn’t turn out in 2016?

    I am at a loss about how to move forward in a positive direction, given the logjam created by liberals, conservatives, and the tuned-out.

  2. Adam Pair says:

    Many of the Trump supporters are heavily into the Infowars doctrine. A large group of people from Trump supporting states think the same. Anything that has anything to do with Bill Gates, or several other “villians” are labeled as billionaires who mean to commit genocide asap. There’s no point in arguing with them. I think Trump sort of latched onto this portion of society and is using it for all it’s worth. My best guess is that this is a very unhappy mix of a raving egomaniac and some extreme paranoia that had been going around for a long while now . I’m not too happy with some of the mainstream stuff either, but desperate times sometimes result in horrible mistakes.

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