Were Trump voters motivated by racism or economic anxiety? France offers a clue.

France's unemployed youths are gravitating towards the far-right

Marine Le Pen and her supporters sing the French national anthem.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Charles Platiau)

Were Trump voters motivated by racism or by economic anxiety? This was a running debate in the 2016 campaign that devolved into a kind of running gag. Prestigious newspapers ran long, soulful profiles of down-on-their-luck Trump supporters in Appalachia or the rural Midwest. Then the liberal wonkosphere would reply with clips of Trump supporters saying heinously racist things at a rally, as well as a little data showing they object to more non-white immigration.

My feeling has been that Trump voters were motivated by all of the above. Within the GOP, Trump's earliest supporters were far more likely than supporters of other candidates to have the cultural badges of hillbilly life: to live in trailers or in the poorest white counties. And Trump supporters are more likely to express hostility not just to continued immigration, but to existing immigrants and racial minorities as well.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.