Donald Trump’s Base Is Pretty Old, But Not All That Conservative

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Someone asked me the other day where Donald Trump’s support comes from. I realized I didn’t really know, so I figured I should check it out. According to David Brady and Douglas Rivers, a pair of political scientists at Stanford, recent YouGov polls break it down like this:

  • Not particularly ideological….20 percent of Trump’s supporters describe themselves as “liberal” or “moderate,” with 65 percent saying they are “conservative” and only 13 percent labeling themselves as “very conservative.”
  • A bit older, less educated, and less affluent than the average Republican.
  • Slightly over half are women.
  • About half are between 45-64 years of age, 34 percent over 65, and less than 2 percent younger than 30.
  • One half of his voters have a high school education or less, compared to 19 percent with a college or post-graduate degree.
  • Slightly over a third of his supporters earn less than $50,000 per year, while 11 percent earn over $100,000 per year.

The only two of these that are noteworthy are the first one, which shows that Trump’s appeal spans ideological boundaries, and the fourth one, which shows that his support comes almost exclusively from the middle-aged and the elderly. Aside from that, he appears to be a fairly standard issue Republican.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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