One of the biggest myths in politics today is that Donald Trump’s supporters are just a gigantic monolith, a group of people who will say whatever he says and believe whatever he tells them to believe.
While there are many Americans who will change their opinions to suit Trump’s, it’s also true many people support Trump for their own reasons and reasons, which may not be compatible with his form of governance and the agenda that he has been imposing since he became president for the second time.
It is certainly the case that a lot of Trump voters are super fans of his and really do view him as some sort of blunt instrument to attack a culture gone awry in their opinion.
But there are plenty of people also who don’t pay attention to news and who may not be religious at all who supported Trump in 2024. That matters because these people are, in many cases, up for grabs this year and in years to come.
So why did they vote for Trump? Joining me in this episode to discuss is Stephen Hawkins. He is the global director of research at More In Common, which is a research organization that does political polling and psychological analysis of voters to analyze why it is that they have certain opinions, and what opinions they might have in common with other people who vote differently. They released an extremely large survey earlier this year called “Beyond MAGA” that’s very much worth your time.
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Audio Chapters
00:00 — Introduction
10:11 — ‘MAGA hardliners,’ the hardcore Christian nationalists who see Trump as divinely destined
15:51 — ‘Mainline Republicans,’ party loyalists who don’t follow news much
17:47 — Politics as a cognitive style and deeper antagonistic divisions
22:50 — ‘Anti-woke conservatives,’ a more secular group that is oppositional more than affirmative
32:27 — The ‘reluctant right,’ a younger group that knew little about politics
36:51 — Did Elon Musk’s ads in Pennsylvania win the state for Trump?
42:43 — ‘New traditionalists,’ young men with very strongly misogynist viewpoints
53:48 — Younger Trump supporters favor more extremist media figures
58:03 — Reactionary religious identity as an act of youthful rebellion
About the Show
Theory of Change is hosted by Matthew Sheffield about larger trends and intersections of politics, religion, media, and technology. It's part of the Flux network, a new content community of podcasters and writers. Please visit us at flux.community to learn more and to tell us about what you're doing. We're constantly growing and learning from the great people we meet.
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