Majority of Trump supporters want to split the country in two
The divide between red and blue voters is ‘dangerous’ and ‘wide’ says politics director of survey
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Most Donald Trump voters believe it’s time to divide the US in two, a new study has found.
University of Virginia’s Centre for Politics, with a new initiative named Project Home Fire, explored the social, political, and psychological divides between those who voted for Donald Trump and those who voted for Joe Biden in 2020.
According to the findings, four in 10 Joe Biden voters (41 per cent) agree that the states should be split between “red states” and “blue states”, while more than half of Trump voters (52 per cent) would like to separate the country.
“The divide between Trump and Biden voters is deep, wide, and dangerous. The scope is unprecedented, and it will not be easily fixed,” said University of Virginia’s for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato.
The survey found that there was distrust on both sides when it comes to voters, elected officials, and media sources in the opposing camp.
“In order to figure out ways to bridge these divides, we need to understand not just the divides themselves, but also understand the ways in which we can, together, move forward to reach common ground,” said Mr Sabato. “This project helps us do both,” said Larry Schack, a customer behaviour expert and the co-founder of Project Home Fire.
The point of the survey is to help “reveal specific pathways that couple persuade Americans on both sides of the divide to open their minds to mutually beneficial compromise”, researchers at the institution stated.
Both groups did find common ground when it came to specific policies, with 93 per cent of Biden voters somewhat agreeing and 53 per cent strongly agreeing that the nation’s electrical grid should be improved, compared to 85 per cent of Trump voters somewhat agreeing and 41 per cent strongly agreeing.
Other similar results included modernising the drinking water systems across the country (94/69 per cent Biden, 85/43 per cent Trump supporters somewhat or strongly agreeing) and investing in the construction of road, bridges, rail lines and other transport infrastructure (92/64 per cent Biden to 86/45 per cent Trump).
The biggest disparities were in raising income taxes for households earning more than $400,000 (92/68 per cent Biden, to 55/26 per cent Trump), and free kindergarten for all American children (90/63 per cent Biden and 59/29 per cent Trump), plus free college education (84/60 per cent Biden to 43/23 per cent Trump).
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