Scary survey findings from the neofascist 🇺🇸USA:
rules and norms don’t matter any more and appealing to them actually offends voters.
🤷🏼🙄🤷🏼
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Voters Who Believe That Trump Defends Their Values: Why calls to ‘save democracy’ don’t work.
(Katy Osborn and Scott Warren)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
I don't have The Atlantic app on my phone; otherwise I would gift this article. I thought it was really interesting.
The mentality is kind of a pre-US Constitution, pro-Articles of Confederation POV. And you can't build a nation with that kind of thinking. We're really in trouble.
Excerpt: We learned that these voters evaluate Trump not as a model of their values, but as a defender of them. “I don’t like him as a person,” Cindy, a 50-something nurse in South Carolina, told us. “But I like him as a president.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Conservatives no longer trust the word "democracy." But they still believe in a functioning, citizen-led government. Fantastic new research unpacks what it is that they believe in, and why they think Trump is restoring the nation.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
🎁Why Calls to ‘Save Democracy’ Don’t Work
Trump voters don’t care to defend institutions that they see as illegitimate.
Katy Osborn and Scott Warren
8:00 AM ET
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
When democracy becomes a partisan issue, then that is the end of democracy. It is now or never to save it. An important read. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“Many Trump voters don’t care to defend government institutions that they see as illegitimate, which makes calls to ‘save democracy’ ineffective in much of the country, Katy Osborn and Scott Warren argue.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
I'm personally amazed that conservative, morals-based voters can stomach a massively corrupt serial fraudster and abuser in the White House, and I see lots of comments on BlueSky that agree - so this article is some serious food for thought for us all:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
I think research and findings like this can be useful to improve the Democrats' platform. But it seems a lot of effort goes into thinking about the MAGA loyalists. What about the registered voters who don't cast a ballot? Any research on them?
No one can ever credibly call these people smart.
"A number of respondents expressed gratitude for the way Trump has worked to protect their communities and livelihoods, particularly in coal country."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Voters Who Believe That Trump Defends Their Values
Why calls to ‘save democracy’ don’t work. At least with anti-secular, anti-science, anti-liberal, anti-diversity, anti-enlightenment voters.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
#WhiteSupremacy #ChristianNationalism #authoritarianism #fascism
"Democratic institutions are legitimate, in the view of conservatives, when they honor and protect the faith, freedom, families, and communities of their constituents. When institutions and the politicians ... fail to appreciate the centrality of these core values, they become illegitimate."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Why calls to save Democracy don’t work?
Democratic institutions are legitimate, in the view of conservatives, when they honor and protect the faith, freedom, families, and communities of their constituents.
Don’t change anything in my life?
This is valuable work. The upshot of it is that many Trump supporters know that his regime is undemocratic, and they’re fine with that. #democracy #ruleoflaw www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The conservative mindset:
“Democratic institutions are [only] legitimate, when they honor and protect the faith, freedom, families, and communities of their constituents. When institutions … fail to appreciate the centrality of these core values, they become illegitimate.