General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I keep trying to grapple with Trump's appeal and I just don't get it. Now with mini rant. [View all]Mass
(27,315 posts)Luntz's focus group yesterday on CBS (only made of Trump's supporters) was frightening because those were largely wackos running on racial resentment (Obama should not be president, he is not capable or he is cocky, ....), but also fairly lucid of the fact Trump is all entertainment and you cannot expect he will do what he says. They credit him of using offensive statements to get the media attention and then talking about true issues (and with the idiotic media we have these days, there may be a bit of truth but this is very frightening).
This said, what is frightening is there is no way to know how large the movement is. Polls are not very reliable as you have no clue who answers (so many people do not answer polls anymore and we do not know whether there are patterns to people answering or not). Is it possible that people who do not answer polls go and vote for more moderate candidates (like happened in France yesterday) or is it possible that people do not dare say they support Trump and there are more GOPers voting for him? Who knows? And this is really what I find frightening.
Also there is clearly a feedback effect here. Trump says something outrageous. The media speak about him and nobody else (82 % of media talking about GOP candidates this week were about Trump). People say they will vote for him. Hopefully, people will wake up.