What Do Trump Voters Want?

The problem with assuming people are smart, competent, and rational.

Last week, abortion rights won big (again). In every state where abortion was on the ballot, abortion rights won. In states where abortion rights weren’t on the ballot but abortion was still a prominent issue, politicians who support abortion rights won. It’s been a clear pattern since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, and in Slate, I wrote about what it might mean for 2024: Namely, that abortion-rights voters are highly motivated; that conservative abortion rights opponents are also hostile to democracy more broadly and will act accordingly; and that Joe Biden needs to step up his game on abortion rights if he wants to win, because pro-choice voters are his path to victory.

There’s on hiccup, though: Donald Trump.