A PEW POLL released this week finds that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders voters share a more skeptical view of U.S. military adventurism than Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton supporters.
On most other issues, Democratic and Republican voters find themselves diametrically opposed, but this issue splits each party.
Only 25 percent of Cruz voters and 28 percent of Clinton voters say “U.S. global involvement makes things worse,” while 38 percent of Trump supporters and 45 percent of Sanders supporters take the same view.
Another atypical issue is Social Security, where overwhelming majorities of voters for all five remaining presidential candidates think payments should not be reduced — despite the fact that both Cruz and John Kasich advocate gradually raising the retirement age or other benefit reductions. Source: Survey conducted March 17-27, 2016. Based on registered voters.
The poll found wide gulfs on some issues. For instance, only 27 percent of Trump voters say “free trade is good” for the country, compared to 48 percent among Cruz voters, 55 percent of Sanders supporters, and 58 percent among Clinton voters.
Anger at the government is far higher among Trump supporters (50 percent) than among Clinton (6 percent) and Sanders (13 percent) backers. Also unsurprisingly, Trump supporters are far and away the most likely to say immigrants are a burden, at 69 percent.
Almost twice as many Clinton supporters (22 percent) as Sanders supporters (12 percent) want to see U.S. Muslims given more scrutiny — with a whopping 64 percent of Trump supporters wanting to do the same. An overwhelming 91 percent of Sanders supporters think the “economic system favors powerful interests”; on the other end of the scale, just 45 percent of Cruz supporters believe the same.
Related:
Top photo: Trump speaking to supporters onboard the USS Iowa on September 15, 2015.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
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