Earlier this week, Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton made a bold statement. At a fundraiser, Clinton called out Donald Trump’s supporters, saying “…you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables”. She faced a great deal of criticism for this statement, and even issued an apology not long after making it. But this all begs the question, is Clinton wrong is saying that around half of Trump’s supporters are, as she put it, “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic”? It seems that, for the most part, she wasn’t. If anything, she was underestimating just how many into this basket.
Let’s take a moment to dissect her accusation. For starters, are Trump supporters really Islamaphobic? In short, yes. In a poll conducted by the University of Texas, it was revealed that 64% of people who identify as “strongly conservative” (Trump’s main electorate) strongly favor a ban on Muslims from entering the United States. In a similar poll, it was revealed that just under 60% of Trump supporters look unfavorably on Islam in general. These results, however deplorable, are sadly unsurprising. With Trump’s blatant Anti-Muslim rhetoric, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe his supporters hold those same values.
When it comes to general xenophobia, or hatred of other cultures and immigrants, Trump supporters aren’t doing any better. In a series of polls taken in January of this year, it was revealed that a third of Trump’s supporters thought Japanese internment camps, one of the most shameful acts in American history, were a good idea. A poll done by the Chicago Council showed that 86% of Trump supporters linked terrorists to immigration and migrants in general. Hatred of other cultures, though not shared by every Trump supporter in equal fervor, seems to be the majority opinion of his following.
Gay marriage has always been an issue Trump has flip-flopped on, but it seems his supporters have some extreme opinions of their own. In a Public Policy poll, a terrifying third of Trump supporters polled in South Carolina said that they wanted gay people barred entirely from even entering the United States. And though Trump insists he’s not sexist, a Pew Research Center poll showed that the majority of his supporters see no historical important in electing a woman president in general. But it goes further than simple polls results. Throwing your support behind a man who calls reporters “bimbos”, said women should be punished for having abortions and belittles women consistently based on their appearance (just to name a few instances), says plenty about the value you place in women.
Trump supporters take an extreme stance on racial issues as well. Unsurprisingly, 70% of Trump supporters polled in South Carolina support the confederate flag being flown on state property. This same poll even showed the smaller, yet still terrifying, 20% of Trump supporters who think the Emancipation Proclamation was a bad idea. Another series of polls revealed that nearly half of Trump’s supporters described black people as more “violent” than white people, and 40% accused them of being “lazier”. These opinions, clearly not backed by fact, seem to make up a decent proportion of Trump’s base.
Though Clinton began her statement by warning her audience that she was generalizing, she has still faced much push back to her comments made about Trump supporters. But the facts don’t lie. Trump supporters are not, on average, the most accepting, diverse or open minded bunch. In fact, many of them are all of the things Clinton accused them of being. Chances are, however, these “deplorables” aren’t the ones offended by being called racist or sexist. But for the Trump supporters who are offended by these words being associated with them, I have a small bit of advice: If you don’t want to be called racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, or Islamaphobic, don’t throw your support behind a man who has garnered a image synonymous with “bigot”. Don’t allow yourself to be tricked into thinking his campaign is one based on anything but hatred of others, hatred of those who are different. If you don’t want to be grouped into the “basket of deplorables”, the solution is simple: get out.
