A new poll shows that the appearance of Donald Trump’s name has the ability to sharply polarize voters.
A Quinnipiac University survey asked half of the voters surveyed whether they disagree with a given statement or policy with no candidate’s name attached. The other half were asked the same question, but with Trump’s name — a way to quantify the “Trump effect” on voter attitudes.
When presented with the statement, “the American dream is dead,” 45 percent of voters backing Trump against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said they strongly or somewhat agreed, while 54 percent said they strongly or somewhat disagreed. Another 31 percent of non-Trump voters agreed with the statement, while 68 percent disagreed.
However, when presented with the statement, “Trump says the American Dream is dead,” 68 percent of Trump voters agreed, and just 30 percent disagreed. Among non-Trump voters, just 18 percent agreed with the altered statement, compared to 81 percent of those who disagreed.
In that experiment, adding Trump’s name prompted 23 percent more pro-Trump voters to agree, and prompted 13 anti-Trump voters to disagree.
“In politics, as in business, the Trump name has an impact,” Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, said in a statement. “Even on Donald Trump’s most infamous quotes, attaching him to the statement affects voters’ opinions. Simply reminding voters that these are Trump’s policies and statements increases positive effects among his supporters and negative effects among non-supporters.”
The survey also found that the Trump name has an effect when it comes to policies he has proposed.
When asked about a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States without a mention of Trump, 76 percent of Trump voters strongly or somewhat agree with the idea, while 22 percent disagree. Twenty-six percent of non-Trump voters agree with the proposal, while 73 percent disagree.
However, when Trump’s name is added to the proposed Muslim ban, 88 percent of Trump voters agree and just 10 percent disagree. Among non-Trump voters, support for that statement drops to 18 percent, and opposition grows to 80 percent.
The poll of 1,451 registered voters nationwide was conducted March 16-21 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
