Traditionally high-status Americans voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election as they felt that their status in the US and the world was threatened by growing racial diversity, a study has found.
It was so far believed that the white working class, having faced job losses and stagnant wages under former US President Barack Obama, voted with their pocketbooks when they chose Trump, researchers from University of Pennsylvania in the US said.
However, the study published in the journal PNAS supports the idea that many Trump voters are feeling left behind, but not for reasons related to personal financial problems or economic anxiety about the future. “Political uprisings are often about downtrodden groups rising up to assert their right to better treatment and more equal life conditions relative to high-status groups,” said Professor Diana C Mutz from University of Pennsylvania.