Men and women who tend to endorse "hegemonic masculinity" (a culturally idealized form of masculinity that states that men should be strong, tough, and dominant) are more likely to vote for and have positive feelings for Donald Trump .
That’s what a new Penn State study suggests.
New masculinity for new politics
Because American politics is largely male-dominated, researchers have noted that political campaigns often emphasize traditionally male characteristics to convince voters of a candidate’s competence and ability.
In America, idealized forms of masculinity suggest that men should have high power, status, and dominance, while being strong physically, mentally, and emotionally.
To test it, 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 would vote in the 2020 presidential election, as well as their evaluations of Trump and Biden.
Nathaniel Schermerhorn cautions that the findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , suggest that while American society appears poised 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, completely questioned the systematic ways in which those prejudices are upheld. .