The Forum 2016; 14(3): 249–264
Mark D. Brewer*
Populism in American Politics
DOI 10.1515/for-2016-0021
Abstract: Populism undoubtedly has a long history in the politics of the US, and
there is no doubt that populism has significantly affected American politics in
a variety of ways. However, what exactly is meant by “populism” is frequently
ambiguous and ill-defined. Political commentators routinely label individuals or
ideas as populist, without even attempting to explain how and why the person
or idea in question relates to populism. Scholars are not immune to acting in a
similar fashion. Populism’s presence is more often asserted than demonstrated in
any convincing way. Here I engage in a thorough examination of the substance of
populism in American politics. All elements of American populism – its championing of the common people, it rural roots, its anti-elitism, anti-intellectualism,
and anti-government views, and its religious and cultural dimensions – will be
explored. The paper closes with an attempt to suss out the place of populism in
contemporary American politics.
Introduction
As the 2016 presidential campaign rushes toward the finish line one of the most
commonly heard refrains involves the supposedly highly populist nature of the
race thus far, on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the contest. One
cannot read or listen to media analysis of the entirely unexpected popularity and
success of Donald Trump without being informed that this success and popularity
are due at least in part to Trump’s populist messages and appeals. The same was
true of accounts of Senator Bernie Sanders when he was still in the race. Indeed,
one could make the case that populist/populism has been the most prominent
buzzword in American politics as a whole since the Obama Administration first
came into office in 2009. The concept has been used to define and explain developments as seemingly different from each other as the Tea Party movement and
the rapid rise of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the growth of Black
Lives Matter and the racially motivated killings at an African American church in
Charleston, SC (Balz 2015).
*Corresponding author: Mark D. Brewer, Department of Political Science, University of Maine,
5754 North Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469, USA, Phone: +207-581-1863,
e-mail: [email protected]
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250 Mark D. Brewer
It would, however, be a mistake to conclude that the rise to prominence of
populism in American politics is a recent phenomenon. George W. Bush was often
described as adopting a somewhat populist persona, as were Bill Clinton and
Ronald Reagan.1 Alabama Governor and presidential candidate George Wallace
was labeled a populist demagogue in the 1960s, in many ways following in the
footsteps of Father Charles Coughlin and Senator/Governor Huey Long in the
1930s. The capital “P” Populist movement of the late 19th century briefly had a
relatively powerful impact on American politics, and the coming of Jacksonian
Democracy in the 1820s and 1830s is often described as a populist wave. While
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are generally not identified as populists,
many of those who supported them and put the Jeffersonian Republicans into
political power certainly were. Indeed, many scholars see no small amount of
populism in the Anti-Federalist movement formed in opposition to the Constitution as reported out of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. So
rather than a recent phenomenon, American populism is as old, if not older, than
the republic itself.
This all being said, populism in American politics is often ill-defined. Its
make-up and substance are often presented as givens, its contents and contours
as well established and known to all. Neither of these are true. This lack of clarity
is not unique to American populism. The concept of populism is too often left
fuzzy no matter where one finds it. Populism is rarely defined with any precision
or specificity (Jansen 2011; Pied 2011). Its shape and content go unexamined in any
systematic way. The term is used to describe a wide variety of things. This paper
attempts to address these shortcomings, at least within the context of American
politics. In the following pages I will present a substantive sketch of populism in
the American context and close with an attempt to discern populism’s place in
the tumultuous scene of contemporary American political conflict.
The Substance of American Populism
Ordinary People vs. the Elites
Kazin (1995, p. 1) argues that the most basic and fundamental definition of
­American populism entails a worldview where the average, ordinary people
are pitted in political and social conflict against the elites. While such a
1 It is interesting to note that one of the most common criticisms of Bush’s father, George H. W.
Bush, was his inability to speak the language of populism.
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Populism in American Politics 251
c­ haracterization obviously suffers from the lack of specificity and detail lamented
above, there is still much to like about Kazin’s definition and it provides a good
starting point for the fleshing out of what populism entails in the American
context. Populist rhetoric tends to lionize the so-called ordinary people (Jansen
2011), seeing them as simple yet noble defenders of a just and appropriate
arrangement that some group of elites (whose make-up can and does change)
is trying to upend, often through nefarious means (­Hofstadter 1966; Berlet and
Lyons 2000; Harris 2010; Pied 2011). This language often includes claims that
these elites are trying to take something from the people that rightfully belongs
to the people (Kazin 1995). As Harris (2010, p. 20) puts it, “All populist revolts
in history…have seen themselves as engaged in justified rebellion against an
arrogant ruling elite.” Anti-elite sentiment has a long history in the US (Cornell
1999), providing a firm and well established foundation for the people vs. the
elites undergirding of American populism. It is not a stretch to claim that the perception of conflict between the people and the elites is the one element common
to all American populist movements. One can easily discern this element in
the most radical Anti-Federalist opposition to the ratification of the Constitution (Cornell 1999; Siemers 2003; Formisano 2008; Faber 2014), in the push
to elect Andrew Jackson president in 1828 (Hofstadter 1962; Berlet and Lyons
2000; Harris 2010), in the agrarian Populist revolt of the late 19th century (Hofstadter 1955; McMath 1992; Kazin 1995), in the rise of Father Coughlin and Huey
Long in the 1930s (Brinkley 1982; Kazin 1995) and George Wallace in the 1960s
(Carter 1995; Kazin 1995), and in the Tea Party movement of today (Skocpol and
­Williamson 2013).
Visions of Unfair Economic Arrangements
Generally speaking the elites are found in the “have” rather than the “havenot” portion of American society, and as such it is not surprising that American
populism tends to be critical of wealth. In particular, wealth viewed as unjustly
obtained often finds itself the subject of populist wrath. American populist
movements tend to make a stark distinction those who work for their supper –
generally seen as producers – and those who earn their bread from the efforts
of others (Kazin 1995). When workers suffer while those who too often sit idle
benefit, populism is not far off in the US. This can manifest itself in populist anger
toward wealthy individuals and big business interests who enrich themselves on
the hard work of others by controlling and manipulating finance and markets,
as it did with the Populist movement (Hofstadter 1955; McMath 1992; Kazin 1995)
and the followers of Father Coughlin and Huey Long in the 1930s (Brinkley 1982;
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252 Mark D. Brewer
Kazin 1995). It can also present as populist resentment toward groups in society
seen as receiving social welfare benefits of which they are not deserving (Gilens
1999), as it did with the populist supporters of George Wallace in the 1960s
(Carter 1995; Kazin 1995) and in the current Tea Party movement (Skocpol and
Williamson 2013). But either way, American populism holds that unfair economic
arrangements are resulting in those who work hard suffering while those who do
not grow fat off of the efforts of others.
Fear of Centralized Authority, Usually in Washington, DC
The anti-elite nature of American populism also often produces a profound fear of
centralized authority among American populists. The most common target of this
fear is the federal government itself. If the elites are the enemy and these elites
control the levers of federal government power, it only makes sense to American
populists that the national government is looking to harm them; it is simply a
tool being used by the elites to disempower the people. American populism regularly champions local control and keeping the power of the state as close to the
people as possible (Kenyon 1955; Storing 1981; Kazin 1995; Cornell 1999; Siemers
2003). The people, after all, are virtuous; this is not true of the elites. Keeping
power local, in the hands and under the supervision of the people goes a long
way toward preventing the corruption that inevitably creeps in when far away
elites get their hands on power. Power moving away from the local level makes
it far more likely that politics and government will escape the people’s control,
another common fear/belief of American populist movements (Hofstadter 1966;
McMath 1992; Formisano 2008).
Defending National Ideals from Conspiratorial Threat
In many instances this fear of centralized authority results in support for conspiracy theories among American populists (Hofstadter 1955; Hofstadter 1966;
Kazin 1995; Berlet and Lyons 2000; Harris 2010). As Kazin (1998, p. 285) states,
“Populist speakers have always had a particular weakness for stories about plots
by the powerful.” Populism needs an enemy, and in many instances that enemy
is engaged in a conspiracy to harm the people, to take from them what is rightfully theirs and destroy their way of life. Hofstadter (1962) and Oliver and Wood
(2014) argue that American populism tends to adopt a Manichean worldview, a
claim that has much to support it. American populism often sees the world in
black and white; it does not admit shades of gray. Something is either right
or it is wrong, and which of these categories something fits into is blatantly
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Populism in American Politics 253
obvious to the virtuous people despite what the underhanded elites would have
them believe. The presence of conspiracy combined with this Manichean outlook
often causes American populists to see existential threats to their way of life. It
is often argued that the basic, fundamental ideals of the nation are under threat
(­Hofstadter 1966; Kazin 1995; Harris 2010; Skocpol and Williamson 2013). These
elements in combination mean that American populists often see themselves as
central actors at a key and dire point in history; they can see dangers that others
cannot or are actively trying to hide. They often see solutions as well, solutions
that come from the wisdom of the common people (Hofstadter 1966).
American Populism as Anti-Intellectual
This faith in the wisdom of the common people sometimes creates a strong antiintellectual strain in American populism (Hofstadter 1962; Shogun 2007). Intellectuals are seen as too removed from the world of the average people. They do
not work, per se, but rather spend their days reading, studying, and thinking with
the goal of developing expertise in some esoteric realm far detached from the
day-to-day lives of the people. They are not producing anything of tangible value.
Such negative views of intellectuals mesh nicely with conflictual relations with
elites, fear of centralized authority, and the tendency to see conspiracies afoot.
Elites, if not experts themselves, certainly have the means and opportunity to
utilize experts to further their cause. Centralized governing authorities often turn
to experts in formulating policies to control and disadvantage the people. Experts
are also seen as clever, and cleverness is certainly helpful when one wants to
engage in conspiracy. Furthermore, experts tend to be seen as exhibiting a certain
degree of arrogance and are often perceived as telling the people what is good for
them, as if the people can not possibly determine this for themselves. As Harris
(2010, pp. 4–5) outlines, American populism tends to be highly resentful of being
told by experts “we know best.” Because of these views, American populism
tends to have a negative orientation toward intellectuals and the expertise they
(often condescendingly) attempt to provide (Hofstadter 1962; Kazin 1995; Shogun
2007; Skocpol and Williamson 2013).
Defense of the Status Quo and Support for Traditional
Arrangements
This disdain for experts points to another common thread found in American
populism – defense of the status quo. In many instances when the government
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254 Mark D. Brewer
or some other collection of elites bring intellectuals into a situation, they are
asking the intellectuals to use their expertise to solve a perceived problem. The
experts are engaged to lead change. After all, who needs experts when things
are fine the way they are? In some instances, the problem arises when populists
fail to see the problem so clearly identified by the elite. In other cases, populists
see the problem, but believe the problem in question would be best solved by
reverting to past practices. Rather than change being the answer, populists see
change as the cause of the problem. Things were fine before and then society
(under the direction of the elites and experts) moved away from what worked;
this created the problem in question. In harkening back to an earlier theme,
the wisdom of the average people can easily solve this problem. No experts
required.
This particular element of American populism manifests itself as the exalting of tradition and staunch resistance to change (unless of course the change
in question is a reversion to past practice, real or perceived). It specifically presents itself in calls for society to hang on to traditional religious underpinnings
and definitions of morality (Hofstadter 1966; Berlet and Lyons 2000; Harris 2010).
It is present in the racist and nativist elements that one often sees in American
populism (Hofstadter 1955; Brinkley 1982; Carter 1995; Berlet and Lyons 2000;
Skocpol and Williamson 2013). Support for tradition and resistance to change
can also explain why American populism has generally been associated with
rural and agrarian communities, although economic grievance is important
here as well (Hofstadter 1955; McMath 1992). Populist support for law and order
can also be placed here (Carter 1995), as those who are breaking the law and/
or violating societal norms are disrupting the status quo and transgressing what
are seen as accepted and legitimate moral boundaries. On a broader scale, the
worry about loss of status that Hofstadter (1955) sees as a hallmark of American
populism can also be slotted into this category. Taken as a whole, all of these
are elements can be seen as indicative of American populism’s tendency to resist
modernity (­Hofstadter 1962), a modernity that is generally seen as being created
and defended by elites and intellectuals. These elements also point to the populist’s desire for order, particularly an order that is proper, proven, and legitimate.
American Populism in Sum
At this point we have a relatively thorough sketch of the substance of American
populism. First, populism paints a picture of ordinary Americans in conflict with
societal elites. Whether the ordinary people are truly ordinary or the elites are
really elites matters little; perception is the crucial matter here. This element also
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Populism in American Politics 255
does not hold that average Americans have to rally themselves into a populist
fervor. Indeed one often finds that a member or members of the targeted elites
are most successful at activating and generating populist sentiment. Economic
grievance is also critical to American populism, although it seems that economic
downturns in and of themselves are not enough to spark an outpouring of populism. The economic complaints that lead to populism have to be seen as having
been purposely caused by a clearly identifiable group or groups. The economic
harms in question are seen as intentional. American populism fears large, centralized authority, particularly (but not exclusively) the federal government. This
element of American populism appears to have become much more pronounced
in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Populism in the American context is often of
a conspiratorial mind, tending to see nefarious intent and camouflaged threats
around every corner. Populists see themselves as uniquely able to discern these
threats and centrally (if not solely) positioned to defeat them. Intellectuals are
often viewed negatively by American populists, as is change, especially change
presented as “progress.” Tradition and the status quo are valued and honored, in
the overall goal of maintaining a proper order of things.
If there is one thing that appears to connect all of the elements of American
populism outlined above it is that populism requires an enemy. This is not to say
that America’s populist movements have not been for anything. Indeed, populist
efforts in the US have been marked by a diverse array of hopes and goals. But it is
absolutely essential for American populism to have something and/or someone
to be against, often viscerally against. Hatred may be too strong of a word to use
here, but this question is certainly open to debate.
Whither Populism in Contemporary American
Politics?
In light of this sketch, where do we stand in terms of the presence of populist sentiment in recent American political history? In an attempt to answer this I scoured
the 1948–2012 ANES Cumulative Datafile and pulled out all variables that might
be seen as indicative of American populism as outlined above. Simple frequencies were run to determine the level of possible populist indicators for each year
that each question was asked. These results are presented below in Table 1 for the
earliest year and the most recent year that ANES asked the question, grouped by
element of populism that are thought to tap into. It is important to keep in mind
that these indicators are often far from perfect for the task at hand, but they are
the best to be had in the ANES Cumulative File.
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256 Mark D. Brewer
Table 1: Percentage of Americans Taking the Populist Position Various Issues, Earliest and
Most Recent Year Question Asked, Grouped by Populist Theme.
Ordinary people vs. elites
Federal government run by a few big interests
Government officials don’t care what people like
respondent think
Unfair economic arrangements
Rate big business coolly
Rate people on welfare coolly
Better or worse off financially in past year (populist
response is “worse”)
Fear of centralized authority (usually federal government) Rate federal government coolly
Trust federal government to do what is right (populist response is “some of the time”)
How many government officials are crooked (populist response is “quite a few”)
Defending national ideals from threat
Rate illegal immigrants coolly
Number of immigrants allowed to come to US should be decreased
Anti-intellectual
How much government pays attention to what people think (populist response is “not much”)
Support for traditional arrangements
Rate blacks coolly
Rate gays coolly
Newer lifestyles are contributing to the breakdown of our society
Should adjust view of moral behavior based on changes in the world
Should be more emphasis on traditional family ties
Should be greater tolerance of different moral standards Earliest
Most Recent
29 (1964)
35 (1952)
79 (2012)
61 (2012)
17 (1964)
47 (1976)
19 (1962)
44 (2012)
44 (2012)
46 (2012)
46 (1980)
24 (1958)
59 (2012)
76 (2012)
24 (1958)
51 (2008)
67 (1988)
47 (1992)
62 (2012)
44 (2012)
23 (1964)
20 (2004)
17 (1964)
69 (1984)
68 (1986)
20 (2012)
33 (2012)
59 (2012)
44 (1986)
46 (2012)
81 (1986)
24 (1986)
67 (2012)
24 (2012)
Source: ANES Cumulative DataFile, 1948–2012.
What can we glean from Table 1? First, even the most cursory look at the far
right column of the table indicates that there is a sizable reservoir of populist
sentiment in the US to be tapped into. Views that might be seen as epitomizing
the themes of ordinary people vs. the elites, fear of centralized authority, and to
a lesser extent concern with unfair economic arrangements have increased substantially since the ANES first asked these questions and are now at high or very
high levels within the American population. Views on items that could be tapping
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Populism in American Politics 257
into populist themes of defending national ideals from threat and support for
traditional arrangements have for the most part not changed too much but are
also still present at relatively high levels. There are a few exceptions here. The
percentage of respondents who say that government does not pay much attention
to what people think has been at consistently low levels over time, and likely is
not a great indicator of anti-intellectual views. The ANES Cumulative File does
not provide much leverage on this particular populist element. Items on greater
tolerance for different moral standards and cool thermometer ratings of African
Americans have remained similarly steady and low although one does wonder
how guarded respondents are in their answers to these questions, especially on
the group thermometer for Blacks. Finally, the cool feeling thermometer readings on gays indicator has declined precipitously. This is likely indicative of real
opinion change within the American public. This being said, one could make the
case that the one third of respondents who rated gays coolly in 2012 might be
more prone to populist activation than the more than two thirds who rated gays
similarly in 1984 as their negative view of homosexuals is now a minority position, and thus under greater threat. Nonetheless, the bottom line in Table 1 is that
there is clear evidence of populist perspectives available to be tapped, and also
evidence that views of some populist elements have increased in recent years.
So populist building blocks are clearly present in contemporary American
politics. But what about populism itself? Have these populist elements been
tapped and activated into current political conflict in the US? As indicated at the
outset of this piece, political commentary in the media answers this question
with a resounding yes. This is particularly true for coverage and analysis of the
2016 presidential campaign. While early on in the campaign other candidates –
primarily Bernie Sanders but to a lesser extent Ted Cruz and Ben Carson – were
discussed in terms of populist appeals, the primary populist spotlight has always
been focused on Donald Trump. Moreover, Trump has monopolized the label of
populist candidate since securing the Republican nomination. Mara Liasson,
NPR’s National Political Correspondent, placed Trump “in the classic tradition
of American populism,” (Liasson 2015). Michael Lind, co-founder of the New
America Foundation, entitled a piece that he wrote for Politico “Donald Trump,
the Perfect Populist,” (Lind 2016). Cohn (2016) in the New York Times, Goldberg
(2015) in the National Review, Lehmann (2015) in Newsweek, and Packer (2015) in
The New Yorker have all written about how Trump is a populist candidate making
populist appeals. The theme of Trump as populist has gotten so much play that
an angry Barack Obama launched into a presidential “rant” as to why Trump was
not a populist (Shabad 2016).
The question of whether or not Donald Trump is truly a populist is of
course one that only Trump himself can answer. But we can assess the degree
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258 Mark D. Brewer
to which Trump’s campaign messages fit within the American populist tradition as ­outlined in this paper. In many ways Trump’s campaign appears to fit
nicely within the universe of American populism. Indeed, Trump’s co-primary
campaign issues – foreign trade and immigration – are both presented almost
entirely as populist appeals. Trump routinely argues that America’s now decades
long trend of negotiating in his view bad trade deals with other nations has
weakened the American economy in general, and has decimated the American working class in particular. This is a quintessential example of the unfair
economic arrangements element of the American populist tradition. Furthermore Trump presents America’s economic elites (a group to which he of course
belongs) as using these trade deals to send American jobs overseas while further
enriching themselves with increased profits. Throw in Trump’s attack on hedge
fund managers as people who get rich by shuffling paper to hurt the average
people and one can see without a doubt that Trump’s campaign is populist in
the sense of railing against unfair economic arrangements. This particular populist theme is one (but not the only) reason commonly given for Trump’s success
amongst White voters with less than a college education. He is seen as speaking
to their sense of economic injustice (Balz and Clement 2016; Cohn 2016; Peters
2016; Rosenthal 2016).
Trump’s anti-immigrant message is a similarly good fit within American populism. Trump’s depiction of undocumented immigrants from Mexico as “criminals, drug dealers, rapists” and his call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration
clearly tap into the racist and nativist elements often present in American populism. They can also be seen as representing both a longing for previous status
quo of a more White America and a defense of traditional arrangements. During
the course of his anti-immigrant rhetoric Trump also frequently argues that immigrants ignore and flaunt traditional American societal norms, which as Brewer
and Stonecash (2015) document has become a consistent source of political conflict in the US. Vavreck (2016) argues that Trump has virtually single-handedly
“reinvigorated explicit appeals to ethnocentrism” and that these appeals are
a large part of why working class White voters who “believe that Whites are a
supreme race and who long for the Confederacy” are heavily supporting Trump’s
candidacy. If one combines economic injustice with anti-immigration we can see
them joining together to speak to the White male working class who increasingly
sees itself as losing out in American society. This fits Hofstadter’s (1955) loss of
status populist theme perfectly.
There is still more to lend support to the idea of the Trump campaign as
populist insurgency. It is hard to imagine a better fit for the populist theme of
conspiratorial threat than Donald Trump. While his association with the socalled “Birther” conspiracy receives the most attention, Trump’s habit of using
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Populism in American Politics 259
conspiracy theories to appeal for voter support does not stop there. To identify
but a few of the others, Trump famously linked Ted Cruz’s father to the assassination of President Kennedy, raised questions about the deaths of Vince Foster
and Antonin Scalia, and argued that President Obama did not really attend
Columbia University (DelReal 2016; Sarlin 2016). The liberal digital media
organization AlterNet has kept a running tally of the conspiracy theories that
Trump has at least somewhat supported. The total as of September 17, 2016
was 58.
Trump’s appeals based on economic unfairness, anti-immigration, loss of
status, and conspiracy theories certainly point to his 2016 presidential campaign
being populist in nature. Such an evaluation gains further support when one
realizes that all four of these appeals identify an enemy for Trump supporters
to be against. Whether it is ineffectual American leaders or the smarter foreign
leaders who are duping them, Mexican immigrant criminals, Muslim terrorists, or
shadowy conspirators, Trump is offering up enemies to those whose support he is
hoping to attract. This is a classic populist trope in American politics.
But before we get too far down the Trump as populist road we need to consider where his campaign does not fit the classic American populist model. The
largest failed connection is undoubtedly Trump’s virtual total failure to lionize
and identify himself with the “ordinary” people (Postel 2016). This is not to claim
that Americans fail to see Trump as a “regular guy.” Indeed, many of his supporters do. But this has absolutely nothing to do with efforts on Trump’s part. In
Trump’s mind and language he is anything but ordinary. He is the smartest, the
richest, is the best and has the best no matter what is being discussed. Moreover,
the idea of Trump espousing the wisdom of the common people as the solution
to a problem – any problem – is absurd. Trump is against some elites, but only
because they are not his elites. Trump as president would solve problems by surrounding himself with similarly smart people and making others bend to his will.
This most certainly does not fit within the American populist tradition. Trump is
also not opposed to centralized authority. He rails against the current centralized
authorities in Washington, but only because of what he sees as their incompetence. Trump sees no problem with power, so long as it is properly used. One can
see this clearly in his numerous positive comments regarding Russian President
Vladimir Putin. If anything, Trump seems to promise his supporters that he will
further centralize power to the White House and personally use it to make their
lives infinitely better almost overnight. This is clearly demonstrated in Trump’s
Republican presidential nomination speech in Cleveland where he thundered
“I’m your voice” to the working people of the US and capped his account of an
America in dire circumstances by stating “I alone can fix it” (Appelbaum 2016).
This is another glaring disconnect with the American populist tradition. The
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260 Mark D. Brewer
complete failure of the Trump campaign to check the populist boxes on valorizing the common people and railing against centralized power makes one wonder
if something else beyond populism is at play in the phenomenon that is Donald
Trump.
Thomas Edsall in a January 2016 New York Times op-ed points us in the direction of where to look for this missing element (Edsall, 2016). After consulting
with a number of academics on the subject of Trump’s success, Edsall argues that
the key to understanding the rise of Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign is
authoritarianism. Summarizing what he heard in his conversations, Edsall outlines Trump’s appeal as a promise to restore order and provide protection in the
face of dire internal and external threats to the nation. He will reward the good
and punish the wicked, restore the purity of American society. In the eyes of those
Edsall spoke with, Trump as authoritarian savior was the secret to his success.
Authoritarianism has a long and somewhat checkered history in social
science research. The concept was famously first introduced by Theodor Adorno
and his colleagues in their 1950 study The Authoritarian Personality. Although
widely discredited in the decades following its publication due to methodological issues, Adorno et al.’s take on what made up the authoritarian personality is
still worth thinking about. According to them (1950, p. 228), authoritarianism was
marked by (paraphrasing in spots): “rigid adherence to conventional…­values,”
submission to proper authorities, aggression against those who go against these
values, anti-subjectivity, superstition and stereotypes, power, hostility, a belief
that “dangerous things go on in the world,” and an “exaggerated concern” with
sex (particularly sex that was viewed as abnormal). For Adorno and his colleagues, those who scored high on these characteristics were ripe for authoritarian appeals from potential leaders.
Although among those highly critical of the methodology employed by
Adorno et al., Bob Altemeyer’s two books on authoritarianism (1981; 1996) established a portrait of right wing authoritarianism that borrowed three of Adorno
et al.’s traits: submission to legitimate authorities, aggression toward outgroups
so long as it was approved of by the established authorities, and strict adherence to established societal conventions. Altemeyer’s right wing authoritarians
respected and trusted the proper authorities, were willing to harshly punish
transgressions of societal norms, were prone to racism and ethnic prejudice, and
tended to see themselves and those like them as good and others as bad, enemies
(Altemeyer 1981).
Two additional works in the last decade have done a great deal to bring
authoritarianism back into the minds of scholars who study American politics. The first is Karen Stenner’s The Authoritarian Dynamic (2005). Stenner’s
authoritarianism is marked by the traits of “obedience to authority, moral
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Populism in American Politics 261
absolutism and conformity, intolerance and punitiveness toward dissidents
and deviants, [and] animosity and aggression toward racial and ethnic outgroups,” (3). The second book to thrust authoritarianism back to center stage
was Marc Hetherington’s and Jonathan Weiler’s Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics (2009). For Hetherington and Weiler, a “need for
order” is the key to understanding authoritarianism. Authoritarians are rigid
conformists who struggle with ambiguity and nuance. They crave order, and
look to legitimate authorities to provide this order. To quote Hetherington and
Weiler at length:
In sum, authoritarianism is fundamentally motivated by a desire for order and a support
for authorities seen as best able to secure that order against a variety of threats to social
cohesion. For authoritarians, proper authorities are necessary to stave off the chaos that
appears to be just around the corner. Furthermore, authoritarians often imbue authorities with transcendent qualities, not subject to questioning and doubt. Emanating from
such a conception is a suspicion of ideas that appear to pose a threat to such authorities
and of groups that may, by their very nature, unravel the social fabric. A tendency to rigid
thinking and an unwillingness or inability to process new information that might challenge such thinking also appears to be characteristic of authoritarians’ mode of political
understanding (41).
Here we might just have found the non-populist parts of Donald Trump’s appeal.
Authoritarianism has no requirement to lionize or empower the ordinary people.
The authoritarian leader only has to demonstrate to the people that she or he
knows what is best for them and promise to provide it. Authoritarianism also sees
power as a virtue, and virtually begs its leaders to use it to the fullest. Trump’s
2016 presidential campaign fits on both counts. Trump also promises order and
security, and his rhetoric and tone are about as aggressive as it gets in American
politics outside of the fringes.
So is Donald Trump a populist authoritarian (or authoritarian populist,
take your pick)? Norris (2016) says yes, rooting his rise in “a cultural backlash
in Western societies against long-term, ongoing social change.” Rahn and Oliver
(2016) say no, arguing that Trump is a straight-up populist in the American tradition. At this point I tend to side with Norris. Separately, neither populism nor
authoritarianism can fully explain the appeal and success of Donald Trump.
Together, the two concepts seem to cover all it is that has led Trump to the steps
of the White House. What this development says about the state of American
politics is a discussion that is just getting started. But what we do know at this
point is that populism is front and center in contemporary American politics. So
is authoritarianism. We need to understand this, and we also need to be careful
not to conflate the two concepts.
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262 Mark D. Brewer
References
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264 Mark D. Brewer
Mark D. Brewer is Professor of Political Science and member of the Honors College faculty
at the University of Maine. His research interests focus generally on political behavior, with
specific research areas including partisanship and electoral behavior at both the mass and elite
levels, the linkages between public opinion and public policy, and the interactions that exist
between religion and politics in the United States. Brewer is the author or editor of a number
of books and articles in academic journals, with the most recent being Parties and Elections in
America, 7th edition (with L. Sandy Maisel, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), Polarization and the
Politics of Personal Responsibility (with Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Oxford University Press, 2015),
The Parties Respond, 5th edition (with L. Sandy Maisel, Westview Press, 2013), Party Images in
the American Electorate (Routledge, 2009), and Dynamics of American Political Parties (with
Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Cambridge University Press, 2009). He is also the editor-in-chief of the
New England Journal of Political Science.
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