The Emotional Politics of Making America Great Again: Trump’s Working Class Appeals

Abstract

Real estate developer and reality TV star Donald Trump’s election to the presidency of the U.S. was a departure from politics as usual in many ways. Most notably, Trump received more white working-class support than any Republican presidential candidate since 1980. Using data from 44 Trump campaign rallies, we analyze Trump’s emotional messages encoded in his working class appeals. We find that Trump’s language (1) temporarily oriented audiences towards feeling shame or fear as a nation, (2) reoriented them towards feeling anger at the elites he blamed, and (3) ultimately promised they would feel safe and proud if he was elected. Trump’s emotional scripting seemed crafted to resonate with working class audiences feeling left behind from decades of bipartisan neoliberalism. We conclude by discussing limitations and potential avenues for future research.

The effects of racial status threat on White Americans’ support for Donald Trump: Results of five experimental tests

“…Many potential explanations for support for Donald Trump as a political and cultural figure have been proposed. These range from broad arguments about factors like economic interests (Frank, 2016), authoritarianism (Smith & Hanley, 2018), and Christian nationalism (Whitehead et al, 2018) to narrower arguments about issues like threatened masculinity (Carian & Sobotka, 2018) and the use of language that may evoke a sense of crisis (Homolar & Scholz, 2019; Schrock et al, 2017). We have focused on the role of concerns about group status among Whites.…”

Who Wears the MAGA Hat? Racial Beliefs and Faith in Trump

“…Attending the then-candidate’s campaign rally, Hochschild noted that “nearly everyone is white; apart from protesters, the only blacks I see are security guards or vendors hawking Trump T-shirts” (p. 222). Hochschild then described Trump’s special talent in appealing to his followers’ “emotional self-interest,” of providing “a giddy release from the feeling of being a stranger in one’s own land” (p. 228; see also Kimmel 2013; Schrock et al 2017). Trump derogated out-groups such as radical Muslims, “bad hombres” from Mexico, and blacks and women receiving unfair advantages.…”

Implicit Resentment and the Gun Policy Preferences of White Americans

“…In this context, many white Americans believe that guns make people safer (Branscombe, Weir, and Crosby 1991;Celinska 2007;Cunningham et al 2000;Dowd-Arrow, Hill, and Burdette 2019;Hill et al 2020aHill et al , 2020bHill et al , 2020cHill et al , 2022Warner and Thrash 2020). Because crime is often racialized by politicians, the media, the NRA, and popular culture through the use of dog whistle politics, white Americans often entertain irrational fears of being victimized by people of color, specifically African American men (Bjornstrom et al 2010;Carlson 2020;Cho and Ho 2018;Flores-Yeffal, Vidales, and Martinez 2019;Haney-L opez 2014;Melzer 2009;Primm, Regoli, and Hewitt 2009;Quillian and Pager 2001;Schrock et al 2017;Skogan 1995;Smiley and Fakunle 2016;Stroud 2012Stroud , 2016. Interestingly, fear of crime can actually motivate white Americans to buy guns (Anuradha 2017;Stroebe, Leander, and Kruglanski 2017;Young 1985) and to endorse policies that loosen gun regulations (Filindra and Kaplan 2017;Frum 2012;Kohut 2015).…”

“…2010; Carlson 2020; Cho and Ho 2018; Flores‐Yeffal, Vidales, and Martinez 2019; Haney‐López 2014; Melzer 2009; Primm, Regoli, and Hewitt 2009; Quillian and Pager 2001; Schrock et al. 2017; Skogan 1995; Smiley and Fakunle 2016; Stroud 2012, 2016). Interestingly, fear of crime can actually motivate white Americans to buy guns (Anuradha 2017; Stroebe, Leander, and Kruglanski 2017; Young 1985) and to endorse policies that loosen gun regulations (Filindra and Kaplan 2017; Frum 2012; Kohut 2015).…”