But there is no excuse for avoiding clear, accurate descriptions of American political dynamics. Unfortunately, there is little reason to expect this research to have much impact on public attitudes increasingly, partisanship skews what Americans think qualifies as racist. By contrast, those who were exposed to Clinton’s words were less likely to express offensive views towards Muslims. Those who had read Trump’s words were more likely to write derogatory things not only about Mexican people, but also about other groups as well. Later in the study, the respondents were asked their opinion of various groups, including Mexican people, black people, and young people. Other respondents were exposed to a statement by Hillary Clinton condemning prejudiced Trump supporters. Vanessa Williamson and Carly Knight Wednesday, November 16, 2016 They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. In a 2017 survey, researchers randomly exposed some respondents to racist comments by the president, such as: In experiments, being exposed to Trump’s rhetoric actually increases expressions of prejudice. However, there is also causal evidence to point to. The data analysis discussed above has centered on correlations they are suggestive of a link between Trump and racist attitudes and behavior, but do not actually demonstrate that one leads to the other. Another study, based on data collected by the Anti-Defamation League, shows that counties that hosted a Trump campaign rally in 2016 saw hate crime rates more than double compared to similar counties that did not host a rally. The association between Trump and hate crimes is not limited to the election itself.

This new, higher rate of hate crimes continued throughout 2017. Though hate crimes are typically most frequent in the summer, in 2016 they peaked in the fourth quarter (October-December). It was the second-largest uptick in hate crimes in the 25 years for which data are available, second only to the spike after September 11, 2001.

FBI data show that since Trump’s election there has been an anomalous spike in hate crimes concentrated in counties where Trump won by larger margins. He did especially well with white people who express sexist views about women and who deny racism exists.Įven more alarmingly, there is a clear correlation between Trump campaign events and incidents of prejudiced violence. Trump did not do especially well with non-college-educated whites, compared to other Republicans. Trump’s much-discussed vote advantage with non-college-educated whites is misleading when accounting for racism and sexism, the education gap among whites in the 2016 election returns to the typical levels of previous elections since 2000.

While some observers have explained Trump’s success as a result of economic anxiety, the data demonstrate that anti-immigrant sentiment, racism, and sexism are much more strongly related to support for Trump. It would be naïve to think that data will change many individuals’ minds on this topic, but nonetheless, there is substantial evidence that Trump has encouraged racism and benefitted politically from it.įirst, Donald Trump’s support in the 2016 campaign was clearly driven by racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Predictably, some podcast listeners responded skeptically on Twitter, doubting the association between Trump and hateful behavior. The Brookings Cafeteria podcast last week discussed the role President Trump’s racist rhetoric has played in encouraging violence in America.

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