Perhaps the most shocking thing about Donald Trump is his continued ability to shock.
Disbelief piles on top of disbelief.
First his victory in the Republican primaries, then his election win, now his turbocharged attempt to change the direction of the United States, showing no respect for diplomatic niceties in the process. Each of these stories has been met with incredulity by a large, supposedly informed sector of society. How. Is. This. Happening?
It's an extension, too, of what's been occurring in Europe, with Brexit and the rise of the far right. The political landscape has rapidly changed, leaving conventional wisdom scrambling to catch up.
Traditional political labels are left challenged. How do you sum up President Trump's peculiar mix of populism, a mishmash of strident nationalism, small government liberalism, authoritarianism, Keynes-like fiscal stimulus and conservative social values? How do we make sense of the new social fault lines which have been exposed? And how relevant to Australia are the political ructions playing out in Europe and North America?
These are the questions that inspired Fairfax Media, in partnership with digital information analysts Kieskompas and the Australian National University's Social Research Centre, to embark upon the Political Persona Project. We surveyed 2600 Australians from all walks of life, from rich to poor, city and country, young to old. And then, through rigorous data analysis, we searched for clusters of like-minded people who gathered around particular issues. Our interactive tool allows readers to compare themselves to the seven distinctive political tribes we have identified:
- Progressive Cosmopolitans
- Activist Egalitarians
- Ambitious Savers
- Lavish Mod-Cons
- Prudent Traditionalists
- Disillusioned Pessimists
- Anti-establishment Firebrands
As well as looking at what divides us, the survey provides an insight into what we can largely agree on. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the most agreed-upon statement. Out of dozens of items put to respondents, the most universal agreement was that we rely too heavily on foreign imports and should manufacture more in Australia. One of the other most unifying political factors was, ironically, our disillusionment with politics, suggesting at least some of the factors that saw President Trump elected exist in Australia too.
However, some don't. Support for multiculturalism is very high and a majority think Australia should increase the use of renewable energy, even it if means higher electricity bills. While the Anti-establishment Firebrand tribe identified by our study sounds very much like President Trump's core voter constituency, it only accounts for about 6 per cent of the Australian population.
There's a noticeable divide between those confident about the future and their place in it, and those who feel adrift. Statements that threw up some of the most divided results were about people's confidence in society and attitudes to change. It suggests a population cleaved almost in half between the disenchanted and the hopeful. The reality, of course, is more nuanced, as we'll examine in stories over coming days.
What you find here are the results of our research so far. We hope that as readers engage with our interactive tool we will get an even richer picture of the Australian political landscape. And we hope you will get a better sense of where you sit in the fast-changing political landscape.
