Who Voted for Trump? Populism and Social Capital

Paola Giuliano and Romain Wacziarg

No 15140, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We argue that low levels of social capital are conducive to the electoral success of populist movements. Using a variety of data sources for the 2016 US Presidential election at the county and individual levels, we show that social capital, measured either by the density of memberships in civic, religious and sports organizations or by generalized trust, is significantly negatively correlated with the vote share and favorability rating of Donald Trump around the time of the election.

Keywords: Social capital; Voting behavior; Populism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-ltv, nep-pol and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Working Paper: Who Voted for Trump? Populism and Social Capital (2020)
Working Paper: Who Voted for Trump? Populism and Social Capital (2020)
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