Prejudice among Trump supporters increased after he became president

By Emily Reynolds Whether or not Donald Trump’s presidency actively increased prejudice or simply emboldened those who already held bigoted views was frequently debated during his term. A new study looks more closely at prejudicial attitudes during the presidency, exploring the views of over 10,000 American citizens. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, finds a complex picture. While prejudicial attitudes decreased among Trump’s opponents, his supporters showed an increase in prejudice — and this seems to be because they believed these views had become more socially acceptable. First, the researchers conducted a set of studies looking at attitudes towards Muslims. In 2014/2015, before Trump came into power, participants completed a scale measuring their levels of Islamophobia. Some also rated how ashamed, angry, guilty, and compassionate they felt towards a Muslim man who had been arrested by US forces and held in Guantanamo Bay prison. Then, two years later once Trump was in office, the participants repeated these measures and  answered further questions about their political attitudes generally and support for Trump. Participants did not, as a whole, increase or decrease in prejudice between the first and second survey. However, when the team looked at Trump supporters and opponents separately, this changed: supporters of Trump showed a significant increase in Islamophobia, while those opposed to Trump showed significant decreases in n...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Political Source Type: blogs