In the post-President Donald Trump America, Republicans — and his voters in particular — are expressing more dystopian views of our society, according to The Economist/YouGov poll.
Two-thirds of Trump voters and a majority of Republicans polled more closely related to a negative statement on the state of the country: "Our lives are threatened by terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants and our priority should be to protect ourselves."
Conversely, even more President Joe Biden voters and Democrats more closely related to a rosier view as asked by the poll: "It's a big, beautiful world, mostly full of good people, and we must find a way to embrace each other and not allow ourselves to become isolated."
The Washington Post's Philip Bump blamed Trump campaign messaging for the right-wing negativity.
"So maybe this bunkering mentality on the right is a reflection of concern about where the country is headed as much as where it is," Bump wrote. "But then, this is also what Trump spent much of last year talking about. This was the threat he raised: Elect Biden, and the country will devolve into a crime-ridden nightmare. Trump said that this is what would happen if he lost, and then he lost."
Bump did not mention the recent House Democrat attempts to censor conservative media outlets and social media's campaign to silence their voices, including Trump's.
"Regardless of causality, this is where we are: Most Republicans and a large majority of Trump voters ascribe to an everyone-for-themselves approach to gauzy dangers over a maybe-we-can-work-together worldview," Bump concluded. "A bleak enough finding that it’s worth elevating."
The Economist/YouGov poll surveyed 1,500 American adults and 1,259 registered voters Feb. 13-16 and the margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.