An Attempt To Understand Why People Support Donald Trump | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

An Attempt To Understand Why People Support Donald Trump

A lesson in social psychology.

406
An Attempt To Understand Why People Support Donald Trump
Reddit

I have to admit, I've been baffled by how much support Donald Trump has rallied since he first announced his candidacy (which many people, at first, laughed off as a joke). I've watched focus groups with Trump supporters to try to understand it, but something still didn't make sense.

So, I turned to social psychology and found the answer: Four concepts—right out of the textbook—that explain the remarkable and surprising success of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate:

There’s a concept known as BIRG, or Bask In Reflected Glory.

This concept explains that people associate with others who are successful to boost their own self esteem. Trump centers his whole campaign over the idea that he is a “winner.” To do this, he also emphasizes that his opponents, his “haters,” and even random celebrities and reporters are “losers.” He repeats this dialogue in many of his tweets and during interviews and speeches. Perhaps people identify with Trump in the same way that people might identify with a winning sports team—they like to win. They may identify with the idea of winning and align themselves with Trump, who is very committed to winning and is very confident in his ability to do so.


A sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that depicts Trump being a "winner" and disparaging "losers."

So who exactly are these Trump supporters? According to Real Clear Politics, Trump supporters tend to be “a bit older, less educated, and earn less than the average Republican.” More than one-third of his supporters earn less than $50,000, and only 11 percent earn more than $100,000. Perhaps these people associate themselves with Trump, a wealthy businessman, because doing so raises their own self-esteem. We can try to examine these demographic statistics all we want, but Politico reporter Matthew MacWilliams just blew it all out of the water. In his recent article, he proposed that the main predictor of whether someone will support Trump is if they have authoritarian inclinations. Again, this points to BIRG—people want a strong leader to associate with in order to boost their self-esteem. It's not surprising that Trump likes Vladimir Putin because Putin uses the same tactic to appeal to the Russian people.

Another potential explanation is the "mere exposure effect."

The mere exposure effect is the phenomenon whereby the more an individual is exposed to a stimulus, the more positively they evaluate that stimulus. Several studies have been done to support this claim. A popular example is the fact that people generally prefer their mirror images, while their friends prefer the actual photos of their appearance. This is because we are usually exposed to our mirror image, whereas others see the reverse view. I think we can all agree that Trump gets far more than "mere exposure." In fact, he gets more attention than any of the other presidential candidates, and that undoubtedly explains why he's winning in the polls. According to television news analyst Andrew Tyndall, Donald Trump has gotten a total of 327 minutes of airtime on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news shows. This is nearly three times as much coverage as the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has gotten (121 minutes), and the campaigns of other Republican candidates didn’t even make Tyndall’s list of top news stories covered. Perhaps the substantial airtime Trump has gotten (a whole year before the general election) is why such a large proportion of Republican voters support him.

Another concept from social psychology that could possibly explain Trump’s support is called "social dominance orientation."

Social dominance orientation is defined by Saul Kassin, Steven Fein and Hazel Rose Markus in the ninth edition of Social Psychology as "a desire to see one’s in-group as dominant over other groups and a willingness to adopt cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups.” One of the biggest campaign platforms that Trump has been running on is to ban all Muslims from traveling to the United States. Another large campaign idea is to “build a wall” to keep immigrants out of the country. He has also made disparaging comments about African Americans and women. This is not to say that all of Trump’s supporters are racist or sexist, but it is true that many of Trump’s supporters are white men. Trump also does particularly well among non-educated white men. Donald Trump is a white male and often makes comments that imply that his “in-group” is superior to other racial groups and women. Trump has made some insensitive and offensive comments which could be appealing to people who enjoy seeing their in-group as dominant over other groups.

Trump is also gaining supporters by capitalizing on another social psychology concept called the "peripheral route to persuasion."

When trying to convince someone of something (in Trump's case, why he should be president), there are two main ways of doing so: the central route and the peripheral route to persuasion. The central route typically consists of strong, high-quality arguments and requires active listening and comprehending by the audience. Meanwhile, the peripheral route occurs when people are persuaded on the basis of things other than the content of the argument. The characteristics that may contribute to the peripheral route of persuasion include the length of the argument, the prestige and character of the speaker or the presentation of the argument. People tend to take the peripheral route to persuasion when they aren't fully invested in a topic or when they don’t have a strong understanding of it. Many of Trump's supporters are "irregular voters," or people who are not fully invested in politics. These people look at Trump and see someone who owns a successful business and who isn't a "typical" Washington politician. They seem willing to support him regardless of the specifics, or lack thereof, of what he is proposing.

Trump himself seems fully aware of this last point. Just look what he recently said at one of his rallies in Iowa -- "I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, ok? It’s like incredible.” He just might be right about that.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Featured

15 Mind-Bending Riddles

Hopefully they will make you laugh.

194532
 Ilistrated image of the planet and images of questions
StableDiffusion

I've been super busy lately with school work, studying, etc. Besides the fact that I do nothing but AP chemistry and AP economics, I constantly think of stupid questions that are almost impossible to answer. So, maybe you could answer them for me, and if not then we can both wonder what the answers to these 15 questions could be.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

Most Epic Aurora Borealis Photos: October 2024

As if May wasn't enough, a truly spectacular Northern Lights show lit up the sky on Oct. 10, 2024

17468
stunning aurora borealis display over a forest of trees and lake
StableDiffusion

From sea to shining sea, the United States was uniquely positioned for an incredible Aurora Borealis display on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, going into Friday, Oct. 11.

It was the second time this year after an historic geomagnetic storm in May 2024. Those Northern Lights were visible in Europe and North America, just like this latest rendition.

Keep Reading...Show less
 silhouette of a woman on the beach at sunrise
StableDiffusion

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of suicide/suicidal thoughts.

When you are feeling down, please know that there are many reasons to keep living.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

Power of Love Letters

I don't think I say it enough...

459818
Illistrated image of a letter with 2 red hearts
StableDiffusion

To My Loving Boyfriend,

  • Thank you for all that you do for me
  • Thank you for working through disagreements with me
  • Thank you for always supporting me
  • I appreciate you more than words can express
  • You have helped me grow and become a better person
  • I can't wait to see where life takes us next
  • I promise to cherish every moment with you
  • Thank you for being my best friend and confidante
  • I love you and everything you do

To start off, here's something I don't say nearly enough: thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You do so much for me that I can't even put into words how much I appreciate everything you do - and have done - for me over the course of our relationship so far. While every couple has their fair share of tiffs and disagreements, thank you for getting through all of them with me and making us a better couple at the other end. With any argument, we don't just throw in the towel and say we're done, but we work towards a solution that puts us in a greater place each day. Thank you for always working with me and never giving up on us.

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

11 Signs You Grew Up In Hauppauge, NY

Because no one ever really leaves.

27746
Map of Hauppauge, New York
Google

Ah, yes, good old Hauppauge. We are that town in the dead center of Long Island that barely anyone knows how to pronounce unless they're from the town itself or live in a nearby area. Hauppauge is home to people of all kinds. We always have new families joining the community but honestly, the majority of the town is filled with people who never leave (high school alumni) and elders who have raised their kids here. Around the town, there are some just some landmarks and places that only the people of Hauppauge will ever understand the importance or even the annoyance of.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments