The standard liberal interpretation of supporters of Donald Trump is that they are angry, poorly-educated, older, working-class white men.[1] How true is this stereotype? A recent chart in the Wall Street Journal may offer some insight.[2]
So far in the primaries, Trump has won an average of 39.1 percent of the Republican vote. If the various munchkins who were running for the Republican nomination had gotten out of the way early-on in favor of one candidate, then the “The Donald” might refer to a specialty deli sandwich[3] right now.
The demography of the Trump vote.
There is no polling data on “angry.” Just channel Robin Williams.[4]
Education.
High school or less: 46.1 percent.
Some college: 42.5 percent.
BA 34.6 percent.
Post-grad. 27.0 percent.
Income.
<$50K 44.0 percent.
$50K–$100K 36.6 percent.
>$100K 35.4 percent.
Gender.
65+ 39.8 percent.
45-64 39.6 percent.
30-44 35.1 percent.
17-29 30.2 percent.
Gender.
Male 42.0 percent.
Female 33.5 percent.
Location.
Rural. 40.9 percent.
Suburban. 37.9 percent.
Urban. 32.7 percent.
How Conservative?
Somewhat. 40.0 percent.
Mod./Liberal. 37.3 percent.
Independent. 35.2 percent.
Very. 35.1 percent.
In sum, Donald Trump does draw many votes from just the group described in liberal media. However, he also draws a lot of support from the antithesis of the stereotype. It would appear that Trump is also the candidate of a significant share of the well-educated, the well-off, the younger, and the female among Republicans. Apparently, lots of them are angry too.[5]
[1] Or “rednecks” as my sister-in-law phrased it.
[2] Aaron Zimmer, “Inside the Trump Coalition,” WSJ, 25 March 2016.
[3] I’ll let you figure out the ingredients. Probably a lot of ham on an onion loaf to begin with.
[4] See, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM-gZintWDc
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