Trump supporters are more likely to be racist, according to incredibly unnecessary poll
LatestFor months, there has been plentiful anecdotal evidence that many supporters of Donald Trump’s presidential run are racists—from a young black student fearing for his life at his own school’s Trump rally in Georgia, to a Trump supporter sucker punching a black protester in North Carolina, to Trump himself calling undocumented immigrants “rapists” and suggesting that a Mexican-American judge couldn’t do his job because of his heritage.
Now, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows how differently Donald Trump supporters view black people, compared with backers of other candidates.
The main finding: Trump supporters were more likely than supporters of other candidates to view black people as “criminal,” “unintelligent,” “lazy” and “violent,” with nearly 50% of Trump supporters saying black people were more violent than white people.
Here’s the graphic showing the breakdown for each characteristic:
When asked about where they wanted to live, 36% of Trump supporters said, “I prefer to live in a community with people who come from diverse cultures,” compared with 70% of Hillary Clinton supporters, the poll found.
Trump’s supporters were also more likely to be critical of affirmative action policies at schools, with 31% saying they “strongly agree” that “social policies, such as affirmative action, discriminate unfairly against white people.” That compares with 16% of Clinton supporters.
“Mr. Trump is an egalitarian who believes in supporting and protecting all people equally,” Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser, told Reuters when asked about the poll. “This is a stark contrast to Hillary Clinton, whose policies have been a disaster for African-American and Hispanic citizens.”
As of June, according to the Washington Post, 88% of black people and 87% of Latinos held unfavorable views of Trump.
Trump is not totally without minority support. The Nightly Show’s Larry Wilmore found six black supporters who praised Trump for his desire to end business as usual in Washington. And my colleague Danny Rivero interviewed a group of Latina Trump backers who appreciated his leadership qualities.
At a recent rally, Trump tried to highlight a black supporter, saying, “Look at my African-American.”
The man, identified as Gregory Cheadle, later told NPR he was not a Trump supporter.
“I went to go hear Donald Trump because I have an open mind,” he said.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted between March and June and involved interviews with 16,000 Americans.
Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.