How Voters View President Trump's Role in "Spreading Hate & Misunderstanding" By John Zogby
A nationwide Zogby poll® of 1,024 likely voters in the U.S., conducted 11/7/18 to 11/8/18, with a margin of error of +/-3.1%, shows voters agree President Trump plays a significant role in "spreading hate and misunderstanding, and dividing Americans along racial, gender and political lines." This agreement crosses most well-entrenched demographic lines and is wide-spread even among Trump's core supporters.
Overall, two-thirds of likely voters agree that President Donald Trump has played a major role in "dividing Americans along racial, gender and political lines, while also spreading hate and misunderstanding." A third of voters disagreed with that notion. Still, slightly less voters (66%) felt this way about the president, compared to more 72% voters, who agreed the mainstream media "spreads hate and misunderstanding."
The overall numbers were very consistent throughout most sub-groups, with the exception of self-identified Republicans (35% agree/65% disagree) and conservatives (38% agree/63% disagree), who were the most likely to disagree that Trump is "divisive and spreads hate." There wasn't much difference when it came to gender: slightly more women (68% agree/32% disagree) voters than men voters (64% agree/36% disagree) agreed about the President's vitriolic rhetoric.
Photo by ZUMA Press/Alamy
On the other hand, age told a slightly different story. Younger Millennials age 18-29 (56% strongly agree, 75% agree/25% disagree) were the most intense when it came to whether or not they believed Trump was responsible for "spreading hate and dividing Americans." Older voters age 65+ were less convinced about Trump spreading hate, but nonetheless, a majority agreed (59%) and two in five disagreed (41%).
When it came to race, Hispanics (82% agree/18% disagree) and African Americans (85% agree/15% disagree), not surprisingly, were much more likely to agree "Donald Trump has played a major role in dividing Americans along, racial, gender and political lines" compared to white voters (59% agree/41% disagree).
Photo by Sam Laird
Trump's usual supporters, such as, NASCAR fans (68% agree/32% disagree), weekly Walmart shoppers (64% agree/36% disagree), and voters whose household income is >$150k (75% agree/25% disagree) also felt very strongly that Trump "spreads hate and misunderstanding" in our current political climate.
A majority (59%) of likely voters made-up their minds about whom to vote for congress more than a month ago. A plurality (33%) of voters made-up their minds more than six months ago. Men (38%) were more likely than women (29%) to make-up their minds more than six months ago, while younger voters age 18-24 (26%) were three times as likely as older voter age 70+, (8%) to make up their minds for whom to vote for congress in the last week before voting. The overall numbers were consistent with almost all sub-groups.
Interestingly, voters who never shop at Walmart (14%) were twice as likely as weekly Walmart shoppers (7%) to have made up their minds in the last week before voting.
John Zogby (@TheJohnZogby) is the founder of the Zogby Poll and Zogby companies, including John Zogby Strategies, and author of We Are Many We Are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in the 21st Century America.
