Months after Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted that Voldemort was “nowhere near as bad” as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a new study suggests that Potter fans subconsciously agree.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Donald,” a study conducted by Diana Mutz, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor, for PS: Political Science and Politics, revealed that the more a reader was exposed to the wizarding world of Harry Potter, the more likely they were to have a negative opinion of Trump.
Mutz surveyed over 1,000 people, first measuring their exposure to the Harry Potter series and then measuring their feelings about the Donald. Even after she controlled for variables such as age, education level, political ideology, party identification, etc. — all things that often influence a person’s perception of Republicans and Democrats — Harry Potter readers were still found to dislike Trump more than those who hadn’t read the books.
“Because Trump’s political views are widely viewed as opposed to the values espoused in the Harry Potter series, exposure to the Potter series may play an influential role in affecting how Americans respond to Donald Trump,” Mutz wrote. “It may simply be too difficult for Harry Potter readers to ignore the similarities between Trump and the power-hungry Voldemort.”
The novels’ major themes include tolerance, nonviolence, and anti-authoritarianism. As a result, fans might then compare Voldemort’s goal to eradicate half-bloods and muggles to Trump’s call to deport illegal immigrants and ban Muslims from immigrating to the United States. Furthermore, just as Voldemort kills and tortures people frequently, Trump has expressed support for waterboarding and killing the families of terrorists.
On the other hand, Harry Potter readers learn to defend victims of discrimination, as Harry and his friends consistently stand up for characters such as Dobby the house elf, Hagrid the half-giant, Professor Lupin the werewolf, and other non pure-bloods.
“Throughout the series, love and kindness consistently triumph over aggression and prejudice,” Mutz continued. “It’s a powerful positive theme, and thus not surprising that readers understand the underlying message of this storyline, and are moved by it.”
It’s worth noting, however, that Mutz is occasionally openly anti-Trump in the study, making comments that don’t exactly ooze with objectivity and even writing: “Perhaps most importantly, these findings raise the hope that Harry Potter can stop the Deathly Donald and make America great again in the eyes of the world, just as Harry did by ridding the wizard world of Voldemort.”
Will Harry succeed again? It’s out of his hands because, just as the wand chooses the wizard, the American people — not fictional characters — will choose our president this November (something that the Ministry of Magic doesn’t allow its citizens to do).
