Excerpts from article . . .
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A new psychological study has found that people who report favorable views of Donald Trump also tend to score higher on measures of callousness, manipulation, and other malevolent traits—and lower on empathy and compassion. The findings, based on two large surveys of U.S. adults, shed light on how personality traits relate to political beliefs, including support for Trump and conservative ideology. The research was recently published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
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People with stronger malevolent traits may be more comfortable with aggression, dominance, or cruelty and less likely to value fairness or kindness. These tendencies are associated with lower levels of affective empathy (concern for others’ suffering) and, in some cases, higher levels of dissonant empathy (enjoyment of others’ pain). In contrast, benevolent traits reflect the opposite—a disposition marked by compassion, humanism, and a belief in treating others with dignity and respect.
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The findings consistently showed that people who identified as politically conservative—and especially those who rated Trump’s presidency highly—were more likely to score higher on measures of authoritarianism, social dominance, and malevolent personality traits.
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They found that people who reported stronger benevolent traits, such as valuing the dignity and worth of others, were more likely to hold liberal views and reject Trump. In contrast, people who reported more malevolent traits—such as manipulation, selfishness, and emotional coldness—were more likely to support Trump and identify as conservative.
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Those who viewed Trump favorably reported higher levels of malevolent traits and lower levels of benevolent ones. In other words, Trump supporters scored higher on traits such as Machiavellianism*, narcissism, and psychopathy**—which reflect manipulativeness, entitlement, emotional callousness, impulsivity, and antisocial behavior—and lower on traits such as humanism, faith in humanity, and Kantianism, which reflect compassion, belief in others’ basic goodness, and a commitment to treating people as ends rather than means.
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It is also important to note that research compares average personality trait scores between two groups of people (those who viewed Trump favorably and those who did not). While the researchers found statistically significant differences—such as higher average scores on traits like psychopathy and lower scores on empathy among Trump supporters—these are group-level trends, not absolute labels. The findings do not mean that all Trump supporters are manipulative or lack compassion, nor that all non-supporters are empathetic or benevolent. Individuals within each group vary widely, and the results reflect differences in average tendencies, not universal characteristics.
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http://www.psypost.org/trump-supporters-report-higher-levels-of-psychopathy-manipulativeness-callousness-and-narcissism/
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* Machiavellianism is a personality trait defined by manipulativeness, cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest, where people use others as tools for personal gain, often employing deceit and emotional detachment, and is part of the psychological "dark triad" alongside narcissism and psychopathy. Named after Niccolò Machiavelli, it describes individuals who believe the ends justify the means, viewing the world cynically and prioritizing power and status. - Gemini AI
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** Psychopathy is a serious personality disorder marked by a severe lack of empathy, remorse, and emotional depth, coupled with manipulative, deceitful, impulsive, and antisocial behaviors, often masked by superficial charm, leading to significant harm in relationships and society, though it's not a formal DSM diagnosis but a concept linked to Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
