A new survey released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institution (PRRI), in collaboration with the Brookings Institute, offers a window into the divisions afflicting American society, the disaffection the 2016 election has exposed, and the similarities–and intense differences–among political, racial, and generational lines. But perhaps the survey’s most valuable insight, and the analysis that followed Thursday’s presentation of the results, is why Donald Trump is the leader America’s most anxious citizens are counting on this fall.

Across a number of topics–the economy, American culture, immigration–Trump supporters expressed more anxiety than Democrats, independents, and Republicans who do not support Trump. Though a slim majority of Americans feel threatened by terrorism–51 percent of those surveyed said they were worried that they or a family member would become a victim of a terrorist act–two-thirds of Trump supporters (or 65 percent) reported terrorism-related anxiety. White working class Americans–many of whom support Trump–registered similar numbers in regards to concerns about crime. So why is Trump the man to massage the fears of America’s most anxiety-riddled?

From the perspective of Trump supporters, “there are certain things the government ought to be doing, to ensure that they have a decent chance at a life of dignity, comfort, and security,” Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said at the Brookings presentation of the paper Thursday. “They don’t believe the government is doing those things.” Aside from security, Trump supporters reported higher proportions of economic and cultural anxiety in comparison to the rest of the country.

34 percent of Trump supporters said they would be bothered by a non-white majority America, compared to 21 percent of the country as a whole (Democrats surveyed paralleled that number.) Trump supporters also reported considerably higher anxieties in terms of what they see as growing discrimination against whites, as well as the incompatibility of Islam with American values. Expectedly, Trump supporters are the most avid backers of two of his campaign’s touchstone conceits: trade deals are mostly harmful, and the U.S. should do more to protect itself from outsiders–build a wall along the border with Mexico, ban Muslims, and prohibit Syrian refugees from resettling in America.

“There is a palpable sense among white working-class voters of just personal vulnerability, of being exposed,” said Robert Jones, one of the architects of the PRRI survey, at Brookings on Thursday. Trump is tapping into that sense vulnerability that the country’s current leaders have thus far been unable to corral. The survey asked 2,607 people from across all 50 states and D.C. whether they think America is in need of a “leader willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right.” Seventy-two percent of Trump supporters agreed, compared with 57 percent of Republicans overall and 49 percent of America as a whole.

“If you think that the rules have been rewritten to your disfavor and that the rules have been rewritten to delegitimize you culturally, to take away from you,” explained Joy Reid, a host on MSNBC and a member on Thursday’s Brookings panel, “I think you would believe breaking the rules is completely legitimate because you don’t really believe in the rules.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Democrats are usually the ones to promote more government control, but President Nixon was a Republican. Though he achieved many things during his presidency, like most people, he is remembered for his scandal. The Watergate Scandal was named after the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C., the location of the Democratic Party headquarters where Nixon’s men were caught breaking in. This was not the limit of the illicit activities Nixon led. His surveillance was far more meticulous, bugging offices of his opponents and creating transcripts from the tapes. Public outrage fueled the nation, and talks of impeachment spewed from most mouths. After much denial, Nixon accepted the blame, publicly apologized for his mistake, and acquiesced to the public consensus about his misbehavior by resigning. The matter of right and wrong was obvious.

Less obvious but very similar is the situation with the National Security Agency. They are not only analyzing domestically, but also internationally. NSA’s interactions with other nations are mirroring Nixon’s ideology. NSA permits the US to monitor our competitors and alter our diplomacy respectively. Although NSA’s spying had been justified as a security precaution against terrorism, NSA is towing a fine line. Germany, France, Mexico, and Brazil have all officially complained to the US about NSA’s interference. The famous fugitive and ex-NSA member, Edward Snowden claimed that NSA was monitoring the phone calls of 35 world leaders, among many other political officials, sparking the debate about NSA’s morality. Since then, resentment, both foreign and domestic, has prevailed.

Last month, Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian president, spoke at the UN general assembly, bringing to light her discontentment with NSA activities pertaining to her nation, “tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and is an affront of the principles that must guide the relations among them, especially among friendly nations. A sovereign nation can never establish itself to the detriment of another sovereign nation. The right to safety of citizens of one country can never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another country,” she condemned. The NSA, she announced, collected personal information of Brazilian citizens, along with information about specific industries, primarily oil industries. The German Chancellor, Merkel also confronted the US about NSA recent activities, “we need to have trust in our allies and partners, and this must now be established once again. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany.”

Similarly, Le Monde, a reputable French newspaper, released information on NSA’s french metadata, “the NSA graph shows an average of 3 million data intercepts per day with peaks at almost 7 million on 24 December 2012 and 7 January 2013.” Le Monde also claimed the NSA planted bugs in the French embassy in Washington, and hacked tens of millions of computers in France this year. Prior to the news leak by Le Monde, French foreign minister, Mr Fabius, told the US president,”I said again to John Kerry what Francois Hollande told Barack Obama, that this kind of spying conducted on a large scale by the Americans on its allies is something that is unacceptable.” With the shocking new information about NSA’s unlawful actions being published, the situation,  on US-French relations are exacerbated.

The difference in our ease to distinguish right and wrong in the Watergate scandal and the NSA security breaches test our morals. Are American morals contingent to our context only? Our action so far indicate that spying domestically on our opponents is a mortal sin, but internationally, it is okay. The freedoms we are allotted and the restrictions we face are variables of time, as is our living constitution, but what about our morals? The Watergate Scandal demonstrated American tenacity for ethics and caused for an eradication of a wrongdoer, will the NSA breach result in a fix too?- Will government policies adjust to current times to keep stable our set of values?

 [Press TV] [BBC] [Le Monde] [Euronews]

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Featured image courtesy of [Mike Herbst via Flickr]

Vasudha Sadana

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