Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T05:44:01.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Activating Animus: The Uniquely Social Roots of Trump Support

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2021

LILLIANA MASON Open the ORCID record for LILLIANA MASON [Opens in a new window] ,
JULIE WRONSKI Open the ORCID record for JULIE WRONSKI [Opens in a new window]  and
JOHN V. KANE Open the ORCID record for JOHN V. KANE [Opens in a new window]
LILLIANA MASON*
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University, United States
JULIE WRONSKI*
Affiliation:
University of Mississippi, United States
JOHN V. KANE*
Affiliation:
New York University, United States
*
Lilliana Mason, Associate Research Professor, SNF Agora Institute and Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, United States, lmason23@jhu.edu.
Julie Wronski, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Mississippi, United States, jwronski@olemiss.edu.
John V. Kane, Assistant Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University, United States, jvk221@nyu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Partisanship in American politics is inextricably linked with social identities, and sentiments toward party-aligned groups affect political orientations. However, out-group animosity may operate differently depending on the party or elite. We investigate the extent to which citizens’ animus toward (Democratically aligned) minority groups drove political support for Donald Trump, whose incendiary rhetoric regarding such groups is unique in modern presidential politics. Leveraging panel data beginning before Trump’s candidacy, we find that animus toward Democratic-linked groups in 2011 predicts future support for Trump regardless of party identity. This animus does not predict future support for other Republican or Democratic politicians or either party. Nor do we find that animus toward Republican groups predicts support for Democratic elites. Trump’s support is thus uniquely tied to animus toward minority groups. Our findings provide insights into the social divisions underlying American politics and the role of elite rhetoric in translating animus into political support.

Type
Letter
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 115 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 1508 - 1516
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Achen, Christopher H., and Bartels, Larry M.. 2016. Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bankert, Alexa. 2020. “Negative and Positive Partisanship in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections.” Political Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09599-1.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2000. “Partisanship and Voting Behavior, 1952–1996.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (1): 35–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, Marilynn B. 1999. The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love or Outgroup Hate? Journal of Social Issues 55 (3): 429–44.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Philip E., Miller, Warren E., and Stokes, Donald E.. 1960. The American Voter. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cikara, Mina, and Fiske, Susan T.. 2013. “Their Pain, Our Pleasure: Stereotype Content and Schadenfreude.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1299: 52–59.Google Scholar
Democracy Fund Voter Study Group. 2018. Views of the Electorate Research Survey, May 2018. [computer file] Release 1: December 11, 2018. Washington, DC: Democracy Fund Voter Study Group [producer] https://www.voterstudygroup.org/.Google Scholar
Green, Donald, Palmquist, Bradley, and Schickler, Eric. 2004. Partisan Hearts and Minds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kane, John V., Mason, Lilliana, and Wronski, Julie. 2021. “Who’s at the Party? Group Sentiments, Knowledge, and Partisan Identity.” The Journal of Politics. https://doi.org/10.1086/715072.Google Scholar
Klar, Samara, and Krupnikov, Yanna. 2016. Independent Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mason, Lilliana. 2018. Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mason, Lilliana, and Wronski, Julie. 2018. “One Tribe to Bind Them All: How Our Social Group Attachments Strengthen Partisanship.” Political Psychology 39 (S1): 257–77.Google Scholar
Mason, Lilliana, Wronski, Julie, and Kane, John V.. 2021. “Replication Data for: Activating Animus: The Uniquely Social Roots of Trump Support.” Harvard Dataverse. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Q4VN7A.Google Scholar
Schaffner, Brian F., Macwilliams, Matthew, and Nteta, Tatishe. 2018. “Understanding White Polarization in the 2016 Vote for President: The Sobering Role of Racism and Sexism.” Political Science Quarterly 133 (1): 9–34.Google Scholar
Sides, John, Tesler, Michael, and Vavreck, Lynn. 2019. Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America, 2nd edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Mason et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Q4VN7A
Link
Supplementary material: File

Mason et al. supplementary material

Mason et al. supplementary material

Download Mason et al. supplementary material(File)
File 5.3 MB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.