07 March 2016

The Trump Phenomenon #nlpoli

The gaggle of American political scientists at the Monkey Cage have been doing a series of posts about Donald Trump's campaign for the republican nomination.

They started with a post that reminded us that most voters aren't ideologues.  That is, folks don't conform to a text-book set of definitions of left, centre, or right and within the major parties in the United States,  there is lots of variation within the very broad Republican and Democratic tents.

In that vein,  the most recent post on the subject reports on polling that suggests Trump's views are closer to what Republican voters believe as opposed to what the party Establishment espouses.

Most people seemed to have figured out early on that  it's the economy.  And, of course, lots of disaffected or economically displaced white folks are loving up Trump's  airing of  White identity and grievances.
In sum, Trump’s “us against them” campaign resonates in an American political environment that has long been centered on social groups and has grown even more so in the Obama era. Both white identity and hostility toward minority groups are propelling Trump — perhaps even to the nomination.
-srbp-