Donald Trump supporters want to vote for him even if he lies, study finds

Supporters of US President Donald Trump are more likely to believe what he says, and even after they are shown it is not true, they still want to vote for him, research has shown.

The University of Western Australia study was undertaken by researcher Briony Swire-Thompson and School of Psychological Science associate professor Ullrich Ecker in late 2015 as the US election campaign was ratcheting up in intensity and rhetoric.

Researchers gave more than 2,500 Republican and Democrat participants a selection of Mr Trump’s statements and asked whether they believed the statements, some attributed to him, others not.

“If they knew the information was from Trump, Republican supporters believed the information more and the opposite was true for Democrats, as soon as they heard it was from Trump, it didn’t matter if it was true or false,” he said.

He said when the subjects were told the information was fake, it had some effect, but did not really change their voting intention.

The researchers were also surprised Trump supporters became confused about what was true or false, even after being told.

Source: Donald Trump supporters want to vote for him even if he lies, study finds – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)