74 Million

The fact that polling companies hadn’t predicted the behavior of so many millions of Americans makes it clear that we don’t know what really determines the unwavering support for Trump.

The recent U.S. election had the highest voter turnout in 120 years. Almost 80 million people voted for Joe Biden, and more than 74 million for Donald Trump. They are the two most voted-for politicians in the country’s history. One might suppose that the pandemic and Trump’s electoral fraud campaign might have increased abstention. But that didn’t happen; 67% of registered voters voted in person or by mail.

The other surprise was the 74 million people that voted for Trump, 10 million more than in 2016. These voters are surprising as much for what they don’t mind about the president as for what they do. They don’t mind, for example, voting for a president whose lies are constant and easily verifiable. Shouldn’t being a compulsive liar be enough to mean you’re defeated in the polls? 74 million Americans don’t think so. They don’t believe Trump is a liar, or they don’t care, or they have needs and hopes that are more important than the president’s honesty.

Shouldn’t the fact that 26 women publicly accused Trump of sexual assault, some of rape, mean he’d lose the female vote? Wasn’t the video from Access Hollywood where Trump tells presenter Billy Bush that, “when you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything, grab ’em by the pussy” enough? Well, no. Almost half of all white women voted for Trump.

If the 74 million don’t care about the multiple sexual harassment allegations, shouldn’t they care about the health of the planet? Apparently not. Trump has denounced the fight against global warming to be a Chinese hoax, meant to weaken the U.S. economy. President Trump’s decisions have been devastating for the environment, while also being very lucrative for the companies that produce the most pollution — and the lobbyists who represent them. Do Trump’s voters care that he’s appointed lobbyists that represent these same polluting industries into top positions in the companies that are meant to regulate them? Obviously not. Do they care that the Trump administration is chaotic and inept, and handled the pandemic so badly? It doesn’t seem so. And that he rejects science? Not that either.

The 74 million don’t mind that two important documents are still kept secret: Donald Trump’s tax return and his health care plan. What’s in the president’s taxes that leads him to make so much effort to keep them out of the public eye? Shouldn’t the voters know what financial obligations the present has, and with whom? Shouldn’t it be known if Trump is a tax evader?

The other document that hasn’t appeared is Trump’s health care plan. The president has done everything he could to dismantle Barack Obama’s health care policy. Trump has promised to replace it with something “much better.” The president’s political advisors have offered a mountain of confusing paperwork, but have yet to reveal details of this “something better.” What’s clear is that getting rid of Obama’s health care reform without having anything to replace it with would do a lot of damage to the public, including, of course, the 74 million who voted for him. They don’t know, they don’t believe it, or they don’t care.

The list of reasons not to vote for Trump is long. His reluctance to firmly denounce hateful white supremacists. His disinterest in addressing institutionalized racism. His meager achievements in foreign policy and having ceded power to China and Russia. His extensive conflicts of interest. His authoritarian tendencies and the way he’s undermined American democracy. For the 74 million, none of this disqualifies Trump from the presidency.

So, what do they care about? What moves them to support Trump so unconditionally? Many things. From the concrete (“don’t raise my taxes”) to the spiritual (“Trump understands how I feel”). From the positive (“Let’s make America great again”) to the negative (“If Biden wins, African Americans will invade the suburbs”). From the right to defend (“the right to bear arms”) to defending values (“I’m against abortion”). From condemning illegal immigration (“let’s build a wall with Mexico”) to opposing economic globalization (“China will take our jobs”).

The demographic of the 74 million is diverse and unclear. It includes significant percentages of Hispanics, people from rural areas, white men without higher education, evangelical groups, businesses, workers and many other categories. The counties where Biden won, for example, generate 70% of U.S. economic activity, while those counties where the majority voted for Trump generated 30%.

The fact that polling companies hadn’t predicted the behavior of 74 million people makes it clear that we don’t know what really determines the unwavering support for Trump.

We’ve got four years to figure it out.