Prejudice grew in Trump supporters during his presidency, studies find

Racial and religious prejudice increased significantly among Donald Trump supporters during his presidency, according to the results of 13 studies published Monday by the journal Nature Human Behavior.

The studies included more than 10,000 participants. The researchers, Benjamin C. Ruisch of the University of Kent in the United Kingdom and Melissa J. Ferguson of Yale University, both social psychologists, also found that Trump opponents showed decreases in prejudice.

“These results suggest that Trump’s presidency coincided with a substantial change in the topography of prejudice in the United States,” the article says.

A scholar not involved in the studies said the findings are what most social scientists would expect.

“Trump was able to be a vehicle to express ones’ frustration with political correctness and tolerance,” said Stephen Farnsworth, author of Presidential Communication and Character: White House News Management from Clinton and Cable to Twitter and Trump. “He didn’t create it. These hostilities existed before him but he was a vehicle to channel that grievance.”

Another scholar cautioned […]