Are Donald Trump Supporters the Modern Day Know-Nothings?

In our reading from Reichley last week, there was a section on a group called the "Know-Nothings," a secret society formed in the 1840s to promote anti-immigration legislation. Lincoln himself was particularly alarmed by the rise of the Know-Nothings, noting that "all men created equal" would change to "all men created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics." Reichley writes: 

"Nativism seemed on the verge of carrying the country. The New York Herald gloomily predicted that in 1856 a Know-Nothing would be elected President. Some American party leaders and sympathizers acknowledged that the party's victory in a national election could produce violence."

In 2016, Donald Trump's nativist rhetoric has skyrocketed his popularity and made him the frontrunner in national polls. It seems that many of the sentiments that birthed the Know-Nothing movement are shared by many Donald Trump supporters. In The New Yorker, John Cassidy notes:

"During the early decades of the twentieth century, another big wave of immigration, this one originating predominantly from southern and eastern Europe, produced a fresh burst of anti-immigrant feeling. Something similar has happened in the past couple of decades, following a surge in immigration from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. With demographers projecting that white Americans will be a minority within a generation, nativist sentiment has returned, presenting Trump with his opportunity.
Since his non-campaign in 2012, when he publicly questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States, Trump has sought to fan fears that America is losing its heritage, and that the political establishment is complicit in a betrayal. The image of a big wall across the southern border is central to Trump’s campaign—not just in policy terms but also psychologically. It represents a physical manifestation of the desire to place a large stop sign before the onward march of history."

Beyond the nativist sentiment, Donald Trump's popularity, like the popularity of the Know-Nothings in the 1840s and 1850s, seems to transcend classic geographic, racial and socio-economic dividing lines.  Reichley notes that the Know-Nothings were popular in traditionally Whig states like Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. However, the Know-Nothings also made great inroads into Democratic strongholds in the South, including Texas, Virginia and Alabama.

Similarly, as illustrated in The New York Times's article "Donald Trump's Strongest Supporters: A Certain Type Of Democrat," Trump's supporters are geographically and politically diverse. He has a large following in the Northeast in New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania and in parts of Massachusetts. At the same time, he has a strong fan base in Appalachia, extending from West Virginia and down into the Deep South. 43 percent of Donald Trump supporters are actually registered Democrats. 29 percent of his supports are registered Republicans.

As we go into the Iowa caucuses and important primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, it will be interesting to see if the nativist rhetoric on which Trump relies is enough to generate voter turnout or if he will slowly disappear from political prominence like his Know-Nothing forebears.