A recent study found that white Republicans who continued to support President Donald Trump after he instigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot did so out of racial resentment and a feeling that white people are now on the losing end of systemic racism.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: of all the “water is wet” news out there, this has to be the water-is-wettest. And yes, you would be correct. Still, the study published in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics serves the purpose of illustrating the power of white fragility — a phenomenon that is, Apparently, so influential that it can cause a person who probably thinks of themself as a pro-police “patriot” to decide inspiring an domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. government and its police officers does not constitute a deal breaker in selecting a commander in chief.
From PsyPost:
The researchers, based at Harvard University, were interested in understanding why some Republicans continued to back Trump after the January 6th attack, despite its unprecedented nature and broad condemnation. Prior studies had already shown that many Republicans did briefly disapprove of Trump after the insurrection, but those changes were relatively small and short-lived. This study set out to explain which members of Trump’s base were more likely to remain supportive—and why.
The authors theorized that a key reason for the uneven reaction among Republicans lies in how individuals perceive their group’s place in American society. Specifically, they focused on white Republicans’ beliefs about whether white people are experiencing growing discrimination and losing their historical dominance in American politics and culture. Previous research has shown that these perceptions, often referred to as “racial status threat,” are linked to support for right-wing populism, political violence, and distrust in democracy. The researchers hypothesized that Republicans who feel this kind of threat would be less likely to withdraw support from Trump—even after he encouraged an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
To test their idea, the team conducted a series of studies using multiple datasets. In the first study, they analyzed responses from more than 5,000 white Republicans surveyed just before and after January 6th, 2021. The survey, conducted by the Nationscape project, asked respondents about their support for Trump, including favorability and job approval. Importantly, it also asked how much discrimination respondents believed white people face in society.
Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty
What researchers found was, again, pretty damn predictable. Among white Republicans who don’t happen to believe we have entered a new era of Caucasian Jim Crow, support for Trump dropped post-January 6. Of white Republicans who believe white people are experiencing systemic racism in a country that is predominantly white and a government that is overwhelmingly white, support for the president who caused an insurrection on U.S. soil remained steadfast.
In the second and third studies, researchers replicated this analysis using data from the Gallup World Poll and the Pew Research Center, respectively. Both databases surveyed Americans both before and after the Capitol riot, and both studies of those databases produced generally the same results: white people continued to support propagandist and riot instigators because they’re really upset that white supremacy doesn’t feel as potent to them as it used to be. (Obviously, I’m paraphrasing here.)
More from PsyPost:
To determine whether this pattern held over time, the authors examined four additional surveys conducted between 2021 and 2024. Across all these studies, the results were consistent: white Republicans who expressed strong disapproval of January 6th were generally less supportive of Trump, but that relationship was significantly weaker among those who felt white people were under threat. Even years after the Capitol riot, status threat continued to shape how white Republicans evaluated Trump’s actions and political future.
This is why Trump’s anti-DEI propaganda has been so effective. It’s why the white nationalist Great Replacement Theory has been so thoroughly embraced by MAGA Republicans, including GOP legislators.
Trump spent months repeating factless claims that the 2020 election had been rigged against him, then he told his followers to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” which they did. It’s not any more complicated than that. Trump lied, influenced a terrorist attack, and got elected again a few years later by running a campaign designed to cater to white grievance and MAGA white delusion.
Sad.
SEE ALSO:
Poll Shows Everyone But MAGA Believes The Trump Administration Should Follow Court Orders
Protecting Protest Rights And Dissent Amid Trump’s Attack On Freedom
New Study Shows White Republicans Still Support Trump After Jan. 6 Because Of White Grievance…Also, Water Is Wet
was originally published on
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