‘Low information voters’ are a crucial part of Trump’s support

… Our research finds that Trump has attracted a disproportionate (and unprecedented) number of “low-information voters” to his campaign. Furthermore, these voters are more likely to respond to emotional appeals — whether about the economy, immigration, Muslims, racial relations, sexism, and even hostility to the first African American U.S. president, Barack Obama. They are the ideal constituency for a candidate like Trump.

We define low-information voters as those who do not know certain basic facts about government and lack what psychologists call a “need for cognition.” CONT.

Richard Fording (U. of Ala. at Tuscaloosa) & Sanford Schram (Hunter College), The Monkey Cage

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