Trump Is Trying to Bend Reality to His Will

Lee Drutman was referenced in a New York Times column on the electoral viability of Trump's populist message in 2020.

How many voters can be described as cross-pressured by conservative cultural views and liberal economic views?

A Voter Study Group analysis of the 2016 election by Lee Drutman found that just under 30 percent of voters feel this way. In addition, Drutman’s study provided support for Gidron’s view that these culturally conservative and economically liberal voters lean decisively to the right. Among the 24.3 percent of voters who fit this category and voted for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, 75.2 percent cast ballots for Trump and 24.8 percent for Clinton, a 3 to 1 split.

Reinforcing the work of Petersen, Gidron and their colleagues are the findings of four political scientists, Ariel Malka, Yphtach Lelkes, Bert N. Bakker in a paper published in May.

The four argue that the focus on Democratic and Republican identification masks another key divide between voters whose prime concern is protection from adverse cultural and economic forces and voters whose agenda is personal autonomy and economic freedom. They call these two constituencies the “protection-based” and the “freedom based.”