American supporters of Donald Trump believe that financial skills are more important in a president than decency and ethics, a new survey from data science app Displayr shows. The firm questioned 1,015 adult Americans in July 2017 on their preferences among 16 different characteristics and capabilities relevant to judging the performance of a president.
Supporters of Trump consider an understanding of economics, success in business, and Christianity to be important. People not approving of Trump place a much greater store in decency, ethics, and concern for the poor and global warning.
“The explanation is not that Trump supporters see Trump differently,” said Tim Bock, the data scientist behind the study, in a news release. “Rather, they’re placing greater value on traits like economics, health and ‘good in a crisis’, where he is perceived as being more able.”
The largest difference relates to being successful in business. This is the 4th most important characteristic among the people that approve of President Trump. However, it is 11th among disapprovers.
The data shows the reverse patterns for experience in government, concern with poverty, concern for minorities, and global warming. These characteristics rank lower with supporters than with the general populace.
Finally, there is also evidence that those who support President Trump prefer a traditional American, male, Christian, and entertaining president. However, these differences are all at the margin relative to the other differences.
Conclusions were based off responses to the question, “Thinking about the type of person you would like to have as the President of the USA, which of these characteristics is most appealing to you, and which is least appealing?”
Data collection took place from 30 June to 5 July 2017 and was conducted by market research company Research Now. Results were then analyzed by the data science platform Displayr using the max-diff technique.
