Nearly 20% Of Donald Trump Supporters Think Freeing The Slaves Was A Huge Mistake


Just when you thought Donald Trump’s presidential campaign couldn’t get any more ludicrous, a You Gov/Economist poll performed in January shows exactly how much sway his racism has over his supporters’ opinions… Or how much it’s attracting the wrong crowd.

Among the other issues in the poll was a question about whether the respondent agreed with “the executive order that freed all slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the federal government.” In case your history is a little rusty, the executive order in question is Abraham Lincoln’s famous Emancipation Proclamation.

Apparently Trump’s supporters are even more rusty on their history than the average Republican, or his racism really is drawing all the white supremacists out of the woodwork, because 20 percent of his supporters would have opposed the Emancipation Proclamation. In comparison, only five percent of fellow Republican nominee Marco Rubio’s supporters felt the same way.

And the racism doesn’t stop there. A third of Trump’s supporters disagreed with desegregating the military in 1948, and wanted to bar gays and lesbians from entering the United States. A third also said locking up Japanese Americans during World War II was a good idea, probably because they’re hoping to lock up (or deport) all Muslim Americans on similar grounds.

Featured image via Fine Art America