… In the 2016 election, Trump leveraged concerns among older Republicans about the changing demography of the United States to his benefit. His slogan — make America great again — was not specifically about race, but it incorporated a sense that America had declined as it also was less disproportionately focused on the needs of White Americans.
New polling from CNN, conducted by SSRS, shows how this sense of decline continues to hold sway in the GOP — and continues to inform how Republican candidates and right-wing media appeal to Republican voters. The poll is centered on gauging views of Republican primary voters (including independents) a year out from the 2024 nominating contest. But the pollsters included a number of questions centered on this idea of how America’s changing. For example, most respondents said that America’s best days were behind us; that, you might say, America is no longer as great as it used to be. …
The most interesting question in the CNN poll, though, focused on views of American diversity. CONTINUED
Philip Bump, Washington Post
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