Men and women who tend to endorse “hegemonic masculinity” (a culturally idealized form of masculinity that dictates that men should be strong, tough, and dominant) are more likely to vote for Donald Trump and have positive feelings towards him.
This is what it suggests a new study from Penn State.
New masculinity for new politics
Because American politics is largely dominated by men, researchers have noted that political campaigns often emphasize traditionally masculine characteristics to convince voters of a candidate's competence and ability.
In the United States, idealized forms of masculinity suggest that men should have high power, status, and dominance, while also being physically, mentally, and emotionally strong.
To test this, the researchers recruited a total of 2,007 participants for seven different studies. In the first six studies, participants answered questions about their support for hegemonic masculinity, trust in government, sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia. They also indicated their political affiliation, how they voted in the 2016 presidential election, and their evaluations of Trump and Hillary Clinton.
In a seventh and final study, participants answered similar questions but also provided information about how they were going to vote in the 2020 presidential election, as well as their evaluations of Trump and Biden.
Nathaniel Schermerhorn warns that the findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that while American society appears ready for a female president, an active rejection of hegemonic masculinity may need to take place first.
The success of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign shows that even if we, as a society, have made progress in saying that discrimination and prejudice are undesirable, we have not, as a society, fully questioned the systematic ways in which those prejudices are upheld. .
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The news
Those who believe in a culturally idealized masculinity tend to support Donald Trump
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.