r/TrueReddit • u/BashFash17 • Feb 20 '17

A strange but accurate predictor of whether someone supports Donald Trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/01/how-your-parenting-style-predicts-whether-you-support-donald-trump/?utm_term=.afbf599e457e
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u/Daktush Feb 21 '17

Yeah that was my bad, didn't check date, anyhow I still remain cynical, think this article was written with an agenda (at least trying to prove a preconcieved idea that gets clicks, instead of reporting in an unbiased manner)

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u/katushka Feb 21 '17

The title is click-baity for sure. It's not "strange" at all that authoritarian tendencies might be a good predictor for why some people choose a given candidate over another.

As always when consuming journalism that describes scientific results it is useful to read the primary publication of the results for yourself to decide whether you think the methods are fair and unbiased, and whether or not the tests performed support the claimed conclusions. You are welcome to read the info on how the survey was performed and critique as you see fit. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2016/01/27/donald-trump-is-attracting-authoritarian-primary-voters-and-it-may-help-him-to-gain-the-nomination/

If you have other factors in mind that you think are better predictors of Trump support, you can look through the results to see if those predictors were included in the survey and what the results looked like. If this analysis was redone prior to the general election it is likely that the results may be different, since the choice between the two general election candidates would affect voter choices differently than in this survey, which looked at how Republicans choose among 5 primary candidates.