What Donald Trump Supporters Really Think About Their Candidate
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Nearly half of Donald Trump's supporters believe that his comments are racist, that he has a bias against women and minorities, or that he is unqualified to be president, but are voting for him anyway.
AP/Andrew Milligan - apimages.com
The Washington Post's Aaron Blake looked at the results of a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, which asked participants several questions — including whether they felt Trump's comments about the federal judge overseeing his Trump University case were racist, whether he had an "unfair bias" against women, minorities, or Muslims, and whether they thought he was generally unfit to be president. Then he added the percentages of Trump supporters who answered "yes" to any one of those questions but still plan to vote for him in the 2016 election.
Here's how Trump supporters responded, according to a poll first reported by The Post's Scott Clement and Philip Rucker.
"For instance, 18 percent of people who found Trump’s comments about the judge racist, 15 percent of those who think his comments generally are biased against women, minorities or Muslims, and 11 percent of those who think he is unqualified say that they support Trump over Clinton."
"Nearly 1 out of every 5 (18 percent) Americans believe one of these things is true about Donald Trump and still are planning to vote for him," The Washington Post reports. "That's nearly half (46 percent, to be specific) of his entire base of support, given he trails 51-39 in the general election." (Blake arrived at that 18 percent figure by factoring in all respondents who answered "yes" to all three questions.)
The Washington Post - washingtonpost.com
We already know that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has a historic unfavorability rating (seven in 10 Americans view him unfavorably, the Washington Post-ABC News survey found). But what's more striking is the fact that members of his own base seem to find the candidate either racist, prejudiced, or unqualified — and they're still casting their vote for him.
Overall, about two-thirds of those included in the survey said that Trump's comments about the federal judge overseeing his Trump University case were racist, believe that his statements about women, minorities, and Muslims revealed an "unfair bias," or think that Trump is unqualified for the presidency. That includes a significant percentage of Republican voters, The Post reports:
"Even 41 percent of Republicans say Trump is unfairly biased against women and minorities, 42 percent say his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel were racist, and 33 percent say he's unqualified to be president. Republicans."
Now recall that Trump reportedly told campaign staffers that those who questioned whether his comments were racist were the actual racists.
In the end, these recent polls reinforce the idea that Trump's most ardent supporters aren't going to be swayed by the candidate's offensive rhetoric — toward women, Muslims, and Mexicans in particular. After all, 20 percent of Hispanic voters support Trump, according to a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey. He's viewed favorably among 23 percent of women, according to this Gallup poll. Yes, his support from these demographics pales in comparison to his opponent, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but the support exists nevertheless.
The 2016 election, everybody.
[h/t The Washington Post]
