Coalition of Supporters

Political Studies: Edexcel A Level, topic 16.7.1

Coalition of supporters

US political parties appeal to groups of voters. Support for the Democrats and Republicans differs based on religion, race, gender and education.

Religion is important for voters because it is linked to their views on social issues.
Protestants mainly support Republicans because they tend to prefer presidents who nominate judges with a literal interpretation of the Constitution and who make rulings aligned with their social beliefs.
Catholics have increased their Republican support because many oppose abortion.
The religious right movement supports Republicans because the party promotes family values and opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.

The Democrats traditionally have stronger support from racial minority groups including Hispanics and African-Americans.
In 2008, support for the Democrats was particularly high with 95% of African-Americans voting for Barack Obama.
In 2016, Hispanics supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Trump’s campaign included negative statements about Mexican immigrants.
Republicans have also attracted Hispanic support, such as in 2000 when George W. Bush won a significant share of the Hispanic vote.

Educational attainment influenced party support in the 2016 election.
Donald Trump won strong support from less well-educated voters who had not attended college.
These voters supported Trump’s policies on restricting illegal immigration and restoring national pride.
Trump was supported by 71% of white males without a college degree, whilst 23% supported Hillary Clinton.

Women mostly support Democratic candidates over Republicans in presidential elections.
Democratic policies tend to appeal more to women than Republican policies.
Democrats favour gun control, lower defence spending and support abortion rights for women.
Democrats are opposed to capital punishment, which appeals to many women voters.

In the 2016 election, there was significant female support for Hillary Clinton and greater male support for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s attitude to women became a focus of the 2016 election after a video was released in which he made inappropriate comments about kissing and groping women.
54% of women voted for Clinton, whilst 41% voted for Trump.