Nearly 40% of Donald Trump supporters say minorities have "too much" influence in US
If you believe men and whites have "too little" influence in American society, it's a key indicator of support for Donald Trump, according to new polling data released Wednesday.
In fact, it's almost as good a predictor of Trump support as disapproval of President Barack Obama, the ABC News/Washington Post survey found. The data shows how Trump supporters and Hillary Clinton supporters view race and gender in the U.S.
The findings come as Trump has sought to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment, after she said half of Trump's supporters hold racist, sexist, homophobic and Islamaphobic views.
However, the ABC News/Washington Post data lends some credence to that idea, finding that Trump supporters are more likely than the average American to say women and minorities have "too much" influence in American society.
According to the survey, 38% of Trump supporters say minorities have "too much influence" in U.S. society. Another 38% say minorities' influence in American society is "about right."
As for Americans on the whole, a comparatively lower 23% said minorities have "too much" influence.
Despite clear evidence of gender disparity in the U.S., the vast majority of Trump supporters have no problem with the amount of power men hold in America. 68% of Trump backers said male influence in U.S. society is "about right," the survey found.
That's higher than the 50% of Americans, overall, who say men have the "right amount" of influence.
Hillary Clinton's supporters, on the other hand, have a starkly different view of racial and gender influence in America.
Roughly two-thirds, or 67%, of Clinton supporters say minorities have "too little" influence in American society.
58% of Clinton supporters say women have "too little" influence in American society.