Discussion: Study: 23 Percent Of Trump Supporters Show Skepticism Of Democracy

You know, I remember reading awhile back a piece about Richard Spencer and somebody else in Europe convincing each other that the new Reich was on the horizon and they both think they’re going to be Hitler this time.

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That is so true. And we’d hear nothing but complaints about the suffering they endured from their successes, too. And how it’s Obama’s fault.

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That same percent thinks Wakanda is a real country and is fighting to stop immigrants from there - and can’t find Canada on a map.

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There are many writers and journalists including Thomas Frank of Kansas who examines the people of his state and Arlie Hochschild from Berkeley who examined people in Louisiana as to why they hate our government. There’s also the Hillbilly Elegy which tries to examine why PP won. We who live in left-leaning cities might assume our values will prevail because they seem so correct, and we’d be wrong. Nevertheless, “skepticism” about Democracy can only hold until they live somewhere where the dictator wins an election by 75% or 100% or who installs him for life.

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These beliefs began when they partially recovered from the state of shock the election of Obama caused and began to fester again with the Tea Party infestation. Trump provided his fake media, fake news, and deep state theories and here we are.

Yup. My daughter just turned 30, and one of her laments was that “she’s becoming her mom!”.

I told her it shouldn’t let it bother her, I’ve been my dad for years…

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It isn’t just Trump supporters; it is Clinton supporters, too. The study shows:

23% of Trump supporters show skepticism of democracy.
20% of Hillary Clinton supporters show skepticism of democracy.

That 3% difference is likely within the margin of error.

23% of Trump supporters show skepticism of democracy.
13% of Hillary Clinton supporters show skepticism of democracy.

Both of those numbers are pretty disturbing.

Corrected thanks @thomasmatthew

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Which reaffirms my unfalsifiable belief held for about 40 years now that 10% of all people everywhere are useless and a drag on society, even in supposed socio-political paradises like the Scandinavian countries. The difference being that we have a population of about 330 million meaning that we have approximately 33 million people (more than the combined population of the Scandinavian countries) who, if not actively working to fuck it up for the rest of us, are a sufficient impediment to progress. Add to that another 10% or so on the cusp and . . .

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You’re right.

A small proportion of every population is wacky. And they should have been asked democracy as compared to what? Democracy is a long way from perfect but as Churchill said, it’s still better than all the alternatives.

I guess we shouldn’t laugh too hard considering what Hitler emerged from.

Two greatest mistakes in 20th Century European history - the Germans letting Hitler out of jail and the French sending Lenin back to Russia.

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In other news, 77% of Trump supporters admit to lying on surveys.

I mean, Trump supporters (and Republicans) are on board with all the voter suppression stuff, gutting the voting rights act, and beating up liberals, how are they not anti-democracy?

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That is not a 3% difference. One the skepticism of democracy question, the yes percentages were 13% Clinton, 23% Trump.

On the strong leader question, 19% Clinton, 32% Trump. You only get a 3% difference by comparing percents from different questions and rounding up from 19 to 20.

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Deplorable.

You are correct:

I’m already saying this.

Unfortunately, the survey failed to differentiate between “leader” and “ruler”.

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Weird outlier status for all the Rubio and Cruz supporters.

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Guess I skipped the intermediate step: people who want to tell everyone else what to do find someone who comforts them by articulating for them what they want other people to do and promising to do exactly that.

I may have strained something trying to write that sentence.

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Unless you know something otherwise, I believe it was the Germans who committed both mistakes.

Yes. Otherwise he and his party could not have gotten from Switzerland to the Baltics without a guaranteed passageway through German occupied Central Europe.

I guess Lenin hated Paris. Loser all around he was.

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