Analysis

Donald Trump Voters Live in Alternate Reality

Trump’s supporters believe unemployment is up and millions voted illegally in the election. Neither is true.

Donald Trump
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, October 29 (Gage Skidmore)

Here is some insight into why millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump: they are convinced things have got worse under Barack Obama, the outgoing president, although the facts say otherwise.

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling found that two-thirds of Trump voters believe unemployment has increased since Obama came to power in January 2009.

In fact, the unemployment rate has steadily fallen since then: from 7.8 to 4.6 percent.

Nearly 40 percent of Trump’s voters believe the stock market has gone down under Obama. The reality is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 11,000 points since the beginning of his presidency: more than double where it was.

A similar share of Trump voters believe their man won the popular vote. In fact, Hillary Clinton won around 2.5 million more votes than Trump.

How is this possible?

Trump’s voters believe his lies

Trump himself has insisted he won the popular vote — “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

Without evidence, he claimed “serious” voter fraud had occurred in California, New Hampshire and Virginia, three states Hillary Clinton won.

According to PPP, 60 percent of Trump’s voters believe him.

They’re wrong. Trump is lying. So far, only four cases of voter fraud have been found in the entire country. It defies common sense to think millions voted illegally without anybody noticing. It is madness to think people did notice and Democrats and the liberal media are covering it up.

Yet this is the stuff diehard Trump supporters believe quite sincerely.