A new study suggests President Donald Trump voters continue to support him even if he appears to lie because they find him "authentically appealing," USA Today reported.
Citing a study published Wednesday by the American Sociological Review, the news outlet reported researchers found when voters believe a candidate is untruthful, they can still view that person as an "authentic champion of constituency."
The study concluded Trump supporters were more enthusiastic in their support of him as a candidate, justifying Trump's 2012 untrue tweet that China created the concept of global warming to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive as a form of "symbolic protest."
The more they viewed him as an act of protest, the more they believed him to be authentic, the study found.
According to the study:
- 61.8 percent saw Trump as "highly authentic," and 5.9 percent viewed him as "highly inauthentic." Trump voters' perception of his authenticity was higher than Clinton voters' perception was of her.
- 68.8 percent of Trump voters saw the China statement as highly false, compared to 95.5 percent of Clinton voters.
- A significant number of Trump voters agreed Trump did not literally mean the statement in his tweet, and were more likely to view the tweet as "his way of challenging the elite establishment."
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