Thanks to his total drubbing in the GOP primary there, we knew Trump was unpopular in Utah. But this is still incredible: A new poll shows Trump with only 20 percent approval in the rock-solid conservative state, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 21 percent approval.
This finding doesn’t mean Trump will lose Utah, but reflects two important things about his support:
1.) He’s not the conservative candidate, and it’s bad analysis to describe his base as conservative.
2) Where community bonds are strong, Trump support is weak. My colleague Michael Barone wrote in March:
[W]hat factor distinguishes Trump and non-Trump voters? My answer is social connectedness or, Robert Putnam’s term in Bowling Alone, social capital. Socially connected people have strong family ties and wide circles of friends, are active in churches and voluntary organizations and work steadily.
I wrote on a similar theme from Oostburg, Wis., bound together by strong churches and shared heritage, and which voted only 15 percent for Trump. “Oostburg is a strong, functioning, loving town. It has no need for Donald Trump.”
So naturally in heavily Mormon Utah, where social capital is very high, Trump’s approval is very low. Where people love their neighbors, there is little need for Trump.
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
