Norm-violating rhetoric undermines support for participatory inclusiveness and political equality among Trump supporters
Open accessAbstract
Over the last decade, the United States has seen increasing antidemocratic rhetoric by political leaders. Yet, prior work suggests that such norm-violating rhetoric does not undermine support for democracy as a system of government. We argue that, while that may be true, such rhetoric does vitiate support for specific democratic principles. We test this theory by extending prior work to assess the effects of Trump’s norm-violating rhetoric on general support for democracy as well as for the principles of participatory inclusiveness, contestation, the rule of law, and political equality. We find that Trump’s rhetoric does not alter attitudes toward democracy as a preferred system but does reduce support for inclusiveness and equality among his supporters. Our findings suggest that elite rhetoric can undermine basic principles of American democracy.
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Repeated exposure to Trump's electoral fraud claims led Trump supporters to become less supportive of democratic inclusiveness and political equality.
“and become less supportive of democratic inclusiveness and political equality (Hall & Druckman, 2023).”
From How to study democratic backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Hall & Druckman, 2023
The Results report that election norm–violating tweets reduced support for inclusiveness among Trump approvers, but their effect on political equality fell short of statistical significance (P = 0.07); general norm–violating tweets significantly reduced support for equality. The Methods explicitly say the study did not examine repeated exposure, so that part of the claim is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Elite rhetoric can undermine democratic norms
Clayton, K., Davis, N. T., Nyhan, B., Porter, E., Ryan, T. J., & Wood, T. J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2024125118 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Arceneaux, K., & Truex, R. (2023) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592722000901 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 6
- [3]R. Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1971).
- [4]L. Bartels, Democracy Erodes from the Top (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2023).
- [7]M. H. Pasek, L. O. Ankori-Karlinsky, A. Levy-Vene, A. S. L. Moore-Berg, Misperceptions about out-partisans’ democratic values may erode democracy. Sci. Rep. 12, 16284 (2022). 36175450 PMC9523060
- [10]R. Mattes, W. Thompson, “ Support for democracy” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia in Politics (Oxford University Press, New York, 2018).
- [13]D. Chong, J. Citron, M. Levy, The realignment of political tolerance in the United States. Perspect. Polit. 1– 22 (2022), 10.1017/S1537592722002079. · DOI
- [16]M. E. K. Hall, J. N. Druckman, Replication Data for Norm-Violating Rhetoric Undermines Support for Participatory Inclusiveness Among Trump Supporters. Open Science Foundation. Accessed 29 August 2023. PMC10556636 37748055
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How to study democratic backsliding
Druckman, J. N. (2024) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12942 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Hall, M. E. K., & Druckman, J. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hall, Matthew E. K.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2023-09-25
- Volume
- 120
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- e2311005120-e2311005120
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC10556636
- OpenAlex
- W4387009924
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 13.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Keywords
- Donald Trump, political rhetoric, support for democracy, political equality, rule of law, contestation, democratic principles, partisanship
- MeSH terms
- Government, Software
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