Trump’s Rhetoric Resonated with His Voters

Thompson, J. (2019). A Review of the Popular and Scholarly Accounts ofDonald Trump’s White Working-Class Support in the 2016 US PresidentialElection. Societies, 9(2), 36.

This study is multinominalregression analysis assessing whether, income, education and racial identitypredict working-class membership among white Americans. The study found thatincome and education are statistically significant predictors of working-classwhiteness, but racial identity is not. The authors say that the working-classwhite community have been left behind by the political elites due to lack ofsocial and geographic mobility. White Americans are said to be unable tomigrate to find better opportunities and they become angry at the Washingtonelites for not improving their situations. So, their decision to vote for Trumpis a sort of defiance against the political class. Also, the white Americansare said to have voted for Trump because of resonance between his populistrhetoric and their latent racist attitude. Trump’s voters in the 2016 electionsare said to have cared more about cultural conservatism and racial resentmentthan other issues. The authors noted that Americas increasing ethnoracialdiversity is eroding relations between its dominant and nondominant groups. Trump’ssupporters are said to resonate with his ethno-nationalist rhetoric. WhiteAmericans are also said to hold low levels of trust towards all post-1965 immigrants,a factor that made a huge group show support for Trump.

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