Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

As Election Nears, Voters Divided Over Democracy and ‘Respect’

4. How voters view Clinton and Trump’s respect for men and women, racial and religious groups

There are stark differences in how voters view the extent to which the two presidential candidates respect gender, racial and ethnic, religious and other groups in society. Majorities of registered voters say Hillary Clinton has “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of respect for women and men; for whites, blacks, Hispanics and Muslims; and for immigrants, veterans and blue-collar workers.

By contrast, Trump is generally viewed as having little or no respect for many of these same groups – fewer than half of voters say he has at least a fair amount of respect for Muslims, immigrants, Hispanics, blacks and women.

About eight-in-ten voters say Trump has a great deal or fair amount of respect for white people (83%) and men (82%), the highest shares among 12 groups tested. More voters think Trump than Clinton has at least a fair amount of men (82% vs. 65%); the only other group that significantly more voters think Trump than Clinton respects are evangelical Christians (59% say Trump has a at least a fair amount of respect for evangelical Christians vs. 51% for Clinton).

Voters are divided in views of Trump’s level of respect for people like them — 49% say he has a great deal or fair amount of respect for people like them, while an identical share says he has little or no respect. A majority of voters (57%) say Clinton has at least a fair amount of respect for people like them.

For the most part, voters believe both candidates have minimal respect for their opponent’s supporters. A wide majority of voters (69%) think Clinton does not have much respect for people who support Donald Trump; just about a quarter (28%) think she has a fair amount of respect or more. Opinions are similar regarding Trump’s respect for Clinton supporters: 71% think he has little or no respect for people who support Clinton, while 26% think he has at least a fair amount of respect for his opponent’s supporters.

Views of candidates’ respect for women and men, blacks and Hispanics

Nearly all of Hillary Clinton supporters (98%) think Clinton has at least “a fair amount” of respect for women, including 80% who think she has “a great deal” of respect.

A large majority of Donald Trump supporters (82%) think he has at least a fair amount of respect for women, though just 34% say he has a great deal of respect for women.

Roughly half of Trump supporters think Clinton has a great deal (18%) or a fair amount (31%) of respect for women. By contrast, just 6% of those who support Clinton say Trump has at least a fair amount of respect for women.

Overwhelming shares of Clinton (93%) and Trump (96%) supporters think their own candidate has a fair amount or more respect for men. But while three-quarters of Clinton backers say Trump has a great deal or fair amount of respect for men, Trump backers are far less likely to say the same of Clinton: Only about a third (34%) of his supporters think she has at least a fair amount of respect for men, including just 5% who think she has “a great deal” of respect.

Large majorities of Clinton supporters think she has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for whites (99%), blacks (94%) and Hispanics (94%). A comparably large majority of Trump backers say he has at least a fair amount of respect for white people (96%), but smaller majorities say the same about his respect for black people (87%) and for Hispanic people (77%).

Views of the opposing candidate vary across the racial and ethnic groups. A majority of Clinton supporters (76%) say Trump has a fair amount or more respect for white people, but just 10% think he has the same amount of respect for black people. Even fewer (4%) think he has that much respect for Hispanic people.

Trump supporters are less likely than Clinton backers to say the opposing candidate has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for white people: Roughly half (51%) say this about Clinton. Fewer think she has that much respect for black people (37%) or for Hispanic people (39%).

Assessments of candidates’ respect for religious groups, immigrants, veterans

Nine-in-ten Clinton supporters (92%) think she has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for Muslims. Somewhat fewer (81%) say she has the same amount of respect for evangelical Christians.

While Trump supporters widely think he has at least a fair amount of respect for evangelical Christians (85%), a smaller majority (59%) would say the same about his respect for Muslims.

Trump supporters are more than twice as likely to say Clinton has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for Muslims (47%) than to say this about her respect for evangelical Christians (19%). More Trump backers say Clinton has “a great deal” of respect for Muslims than say this about Trump (19% vs. 11%).

On the other hand, just 6% of Clinton supporters say Trump has at least a fair amount of respect for Muslims; 37% say he has respect for evangelical Christians.

An overwhelming share of Clinton supporters (94%) says she has at least a fair amount of respect for immigrants, including about half (49%) who say she has a great deal of respect. Among Trump supporters, a smaller majority (65%) thinks he has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for immigrants.

Just 5% of Clinton supporters say Donald Trump has a great deal or fair amount of respect for immigrants. Far more Trump supporters (47%) think Clinton respects immigrants.

An equal share of both Clinton and Trump supporters (92%) think their own candidate has at least a fair amount of respect for blue collar workers.

More than 90% of both Clinton supporters (94%) and Trump supporters (95%) say their candidate respects veterans, but Trump supporters are more likely to say he has a great deal of respect for them.

Nearly seven-in-ten Trump supporters (69%) say has a great deal of respect for veterans – the highest share among all 12 groups tested. Fewer Clinton supporters (56%) feel she has a great deal of respect for veterans.

A relatively large minority of Clinton supporters (40%) say that Trump has at least a fair amount of respect for veterans; just quarter of Trump supporters say Clinton has a fair amount or more respect for veterans.

When asked about the candidates’ respect for people like them, supporters overwhelmingly say their own candidate is respectful, and hold much more negative views of the opposing candidate.

And when asked specifically about respect for the opponent’s supporters, both Clinton and Trump supporters offer negative assessments. Just 15% of voters who support Clinton say Trump respects “Clinton supporters.” An equally (13%) small share of Trump voters say Clinton respects “Trump supporters.”

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