Are Trump Supporters Like Most Americans?
Is there anything Donald Trump can say or do that would hurt him with his devoted supporters who think America is going down the drain and that a political version of Dirty Harry is the only thing that can save us? Is there a line Trump could cross that would cause them to look elsewhere for their knight in shining armor?
Let's just say that if it was going to happen, it would have happened by now given all the things he’s already said and done and all the lines he’s already crossed. In fact, the more outlandish and outrageous Donald Trump gets, the more his supporters love him.
There was a time when Trump was seen as nothing more than a summer fling, as a romance that would end after the fascination with a billionaire TV star faded. But the so-called experts who thought that’s how it would end for Trump, underestimated – vastly underestimated – the frustration and anger his backers felt … for President Obama … for the media that support him … and mostly for the leaders of their own Republican Party, who they see as pathetically spineless and weak when it comes to standing up to the president.
For millions of Americans who feel alienated and dispossessed, Donald Trump is the antidote, the no-nonsense, anti-PC guy who, like them, is as mad as hell and refuses to take it anymore.
Now, even the so-called experts have come around and acknowledge that Donald Trump not only isn’t going away as they so confidently predicted, but that he may very well win the Republican Party nomination for president.
That’s what a lot of people are hoping -- and not just Trump loyalists. It's what a lot of Democrats are hoping too -- Democrats who want Hillary Clinton to be our next president. And a recent Quinnipiac poll provides some tantalizing tidbits for the Hillary backers. A few numbers:
-- Of the 12 Democrat and Republican candidates asked about, Trump has the lowest favorability ratings: 35 percent favorable, 57 percent unfavorable.
-- 60 percent of independents dislike him
-- 69 percent of voters between 18 and 34 years old dislike him
-- 84 percent of Latinos don’t like him
-- 87 percent of black voters don’t like him
And while voters in the poll found both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to be more untrustworthy than trustworthy, by 67 percent to 32 percent, they thought Mrs. Clinton has “the right kind of experience to be president” while Trump’s numbers were the reverse: 34 percent to 63 percent.
In a head-to-head matchup against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump comes out the worst of all the top GOP candidates. According to Quinnipiac, he loses to her 47 to 41 percent. Among young voters he loses 52 to 32 percent. He gets only 13 percent of the Latino vote while Mrs. Clinton gets 76 percent.
Things can change, of course. The Quinnipiac poll is only a glimpse of how people feel today. And, yes, other polls have had Trump beating Clinton. But given his many reckless remarks, it's going to be tough for Donald Trump to expand his base of true-believers. And given the many lopsided numbers in this new poll, as of now anyway, it looks like Donald Trump is a net minus for the GOP; that if he wins the Republican Party nomination, Hillary Clinton would be the next President of the United States.
The mistake Trump’s passionate, loyal, frustrated and often angry supporters make is that they believe most Americans think and feel the way they do. Most Americans apparently don’t.