It isn’t just Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump who don’t like each other.
In an unusual finding, pollsters have found that the supporters of the Democrat and Republican don’t like each other either, with very few backers having friends who support the other candidate.
The Pew Research Center found that nearly half of Clinton’s supporters and a third of Trump’s supporters “say they have no close friends who support the opposing candidate.”
What’s more, nearly four in 10 have argued over Clinton and Trump.
It is just the latest proof that the election is divisive and that voters are segregating themselves in the two political camps.
Pew interviewed 4,602 adults, including 3,834 registered voters June 7-July 5, before the political conventions. It is unlikely that those events brought political enemies together.
The poll also found that the election is the talk of the town, with some 67 percent saying the election comes up in conversation somewhat often, and 23 percent saying it rises “very often.”
The findings also mirrored recent surveys of American media sources, with more and more people going to a news source that they agree with. Said Pew, “About three-quarters of Trump supporters (76 percent) say they have recently had a conversation about the election with a fellow Trump supporter, while only about half as many (37 percent) have discussed the election with someone who favors Clinton. Clinton supporters are similarly one-sided in their political discussions: 72 percent say recent conversations about the election have been with other Clinton supporters, while just 40 percent say they have been with Trump backers.”
Other key findings from the Pew released:
— Large majorities of both Trump and Clinton supporters have friends who back their preferred candidates. More than four-in-ten Trump supporters (44%) say they have a lot of close friends who back Trump, while another 38% say they have some friends who support him. Similarly, most Clinton supporters say they have a lot (41%) or some close friends (40%) who also express support for Clinton.
— Few voters ‘hide’ their election preferences. Just 7% of registered voters say they would “rather other people not know” who they are supporting for president. Most (58%) say they do not mind if people know who they support, but “don’t go out of their way to say it.” A third say they are “pretty outspoken with others” about their voting preferences. There are only slight differences between Clinton and Trump supporters in these views.
— Some have had political arguments, but few ‘major’ ones. Nearly four-in-ten voters (37%) – including nearly identical shares of Clinton and Trump supporters – say they have had an argument about the election. But just 8% have had a “major” argument, while 30% have had a “minor” argument.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
