A poll released earlier this week showed that 20% of those who support Trump disagree with the 1865 ending of slavery following the US Civil War. There are reasons to doubt the accuracy of the poll. For one, the slavery question appeared in the middle of a lengthy, 103-question survey and was framed as an executive order issue. The same poll found that 5% of black people were against the Emancipation Proclamation, and it seems highly unlikely that 2 million black Americans are pro-slavery. Additionally, slavery was not made illegal at the end of the civil war, it was a primary cause of the war, and the Emancipation Proclamation, which made it official, had been handed down in 1863.
More likely, a large number of people suffering survey-fatigue answered an executive-action question without reading carefully.
Still, while the 20% figure is arguably overblown, the questionnaire shows that Trump’s heated rhetoric has attracted a fair number of unsavory supporters, not least of whom is David Duke, the white nationalist leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
During his radio program on Wednesday, Duke called on his supporters – aka other white supremacists – to vote for Trump so as to honor what he considered to be white "heritage."
"Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage," Duke said, referring to Republican rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
"I’m not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I haven’t formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do."
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) February 25, 2016
That awkward phrasing likely refers to Trump’s pledge to deport all illegal immigrants, build a wall along the US-Mexico border, and, perhaps most absurd and unlikely, bar all Muslims from entering the country.
"And I am telling you that it is your job now to get active. Get off your duff. Get off your rear end that’s getting fatter and fatter for many of you every day on your chairs," Duke said, maybe referring to the target demographic of older white males in the southern part of the country known to be in support of racism.
"When this show’s over, go out, call the Republican Party, but call Donald Trump’s headquarters, volunteer. They’re screaming for volunteers. Go in there, you’re gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mindset that you have."
While Trump’s favorability may be soaring among right wing hate groups, it is predictably low among Hispanics, a voting bloc which could ultimately doom Trump’s candidacy.
A new Washington Post-Univision News poll found that eight out of ten Hispanics have an unfavorable view of the billionaire. Seven out of ten say they have a “very unfavorable” view of Trump.
This likely has something to do with his now infamous comments about Mexican immigrants being "rapists."
