Where Mr . trump Supporters Stand on Debt, Credit and Personal Finance – Credit Sesame

The rise of Mr . trump as the leading contender for that Republican Party's presidential nomination has created some of the greatest buzz from the 2021 election cycle.

Party leaders and media commentators have talked their way in circles trying to explain why an extensive cross-section of voters — and prominent politicians for example Gov. Chris Christie of recent Jersey and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama — have thrown their support behind a candidate who can be outspoken and polarizing.

Yet as Ramesh Ponnuru recently recognized for Bloomberg View, it's not all that simple. “There are some streams that feed Trump's river,” Ponnuru observed.

With such a complex coalition, what exactly are we to make of Mr. Trump's successes in the ballot box? One answer might be discovered by exploring how personal finance shapes his supporters' lives. A current Credit Sesame survey of 1,350 respondents — subset of Credit Sesame's 7 million members — finds that when compared with supporters of other candidates, Trump backers tight on debt and much less student education loans. Conversely, they've almost double the amount bankruptcy rate of other GOP candidates' supporters.

“Hardly a big surprise considering that Trump himself has declared bankruptcy 4 times,” says Jesse Levey, Chief Operating Officer, Credit Sesame. Self-identified Trump supporters in the survey were overwhelming white or Caucasian (83 percent), accompanied by Asian (5 percent) and Hispanic or Latino (also 5 percent). They also lean younger, with 54 percent of respondents under age 50.

That syncs with research by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, whose national poll released Feb. 18 also reveals a also, he.

“Though Trump does well with GOP primary voters of every age group, he's more support from voters under 45 than his rivals,” explains Scott McLean, a professor of political science at Quinnipiac. He notes the Quinnipiac poll also found Trump supporters:

– Are more likely to be male than primary voters supporting other Republican candidates

– Are more likely to identify as liberal to moderate

– Are more likely to identify as independent than Republican

– Are not as likely to hold a college degree

– Include one-third of self-identified tea party voters

– Include one-third of white evangelical primary voters

With those statistics in mind, Credit Sesame dug into its very own survey data to explore this unique cross-section of voters with respect to Trump and personal finance.

Why Trump's supporters admire him

Credit Sesame reached to self-identified Trump supporters for additional info on their opinions about his candidacy, their own personal finance and just how their financial situation might change under a Trump presidency.

A central Missouri resident who responded to laptop computer says voting for Trump reflects support for somebody with experience beyond Washington.

“I’m tired of career politicians and elected officials who have no idea the way the person with average skills lives,” wrote the respondent, who's within the 50- to 59-year-old demographic with a fair credit rating (550-639) and approximate average household income of between $75,000 and $99,999 annually. “Trump lives how he wants, although not on the backs of taxpayers.”

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The respondent expects a Trump presidency would help personal household finances.

“Since [President] Obama took office, our household income has been cut by a lot more than 30 %, nor of us lost our jobs,” the respondent explains. “Pay cuts and bonus cuts lowered our income by more than $35,000 over the last eight years.”

As for which Trump's four bankruptcies say about his financial record?

“Congress has bankrupted Social Security and mortgaged the U.S. to China,” the respondent says. “I doubt he'll worsen it.”

Less debt, less access to credit

In general, Trump supporters have less debt than supporters of other presidential candidates, Credit Sesame found. For example, while Trump supporters come with an average credit utilization ratio of 19 percent — placing him in the middle of the pack of candidates including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders — his supporters hold an average charge card balance of just $1,469. That's a lot more than $200 beneath Clinton supporters, who contain the next-lowest balance.

[Related: Charge cards Well-Suited For Each Presidential Candidate’s Spending Habits]

To be clear, Trump supporters don't eschew credit entirely. They simply don't use it as much, which leads to a lowest-in-the-field credit limit of $7,400, typically.

The Missouri survey respondent prefers zero-interest charge cards, pays off credit cards each month and says it's OK to have multiple credit cards.

Overall, Credit Sesame survey data of Trump supporters show favorite credit card types are:

– Cash back: 27 percent

– Points/other rewards: 25 percent

– A low interest rate: 18 percent

– Secured: 7 percent

– Low fees: 6 percent

– Meanwhile, 17 % of Trump supporters say they do not use a charge card.

“It seems likely the reason Trump supporters in your research have lower levels of personal debt than supporters of other candidates has to do with demographics,” McLean says. “In polls, a larger number of Trump supporters are younger and with no degree — groups who you would have it are not as likely to become financing a house purchase and have as a lot of income to make large deposit. It appears much less likely — though possible — that a certain segment of Trump supporters might be trying to keep their debts low, and would like to see themselves as frugal entrepreneurs.”

Income is commonly lower, though six-figure supporters exist

Fully 62 percent of Trump supporters in Credit Sesame's survey make $74,999 or less annually, though 38 percent make more. In the opposite end from the income spectrum, for instance, Five percent of supporters make $200,000 or more.

Among the other income findings about Trump supporters:

– 17 percent of respondents make between $75,000 and $99,000 annually

– 6 % make $100,000 to $124,999

– 4 % make $125,000 to $149,999

– 5 percent make $150,000 to $174,999

– 1 percent make $175,000 to $199,000

Fewer student education loans — minimizing overall balances

The tendency toward lower income levels among Trump voters is expounded, a minimum of in part, to their lower average levels of education in contrast to voters who support other candidates. For example, the Missouri respondent to Credit Sesame's follow-up survey has 2 yrs of school and later attended cosmetology school. Many Trump supporters are concentrated in places that a high proportion of residents have not finished high school.

Just 18 percent of Trump supporters have any student loans, 9 percentage points less than the next-lowest candidate of Ted Cruz, for whom approximately one inch every four supporters holds an education loan.

“I have no student loans,” the Missouri respondent explains. “I paid for my college by working multiple jobs by earning scholarships. I visited the college I could afford, not the main one I wanted to attend but was beyond my means.”

For Trump supporters who do hold student loans, the median balance is also lowest from the field of 5 presidential candidates.

Fewer mortgages

A final financial indicator for Trump supporters is the mortgage. Here, Trump is bested through the leading competitor on the Democratic Party ticket, Hillary Clinton. Just 20 percent of her supporters in the Credit Sesame survey say there is a mortgage, compared to the 21 percent of Trump supporters who hold a home loan.

Further, Trump supporters hold the lowest overall mortgage balance with a median of $116,019. Again, this is probably related at least partly towards the lower levels of education, and resulting lower average incomes. Perhaps Trump supporters are less likely to own their houses.

Some Trump supporters do own their homes, obviously. The Missouri respondent fits the mortgage picture.

“I have no mortgage,” the respondent wrote. “I own my very own home.”

Economic and political factors lift Trump

It may be simple to peg Trump's success on any one of these components, but the truth is probably more nuanced. For political scientists and casual observers alike, the rise of Trump in the polls should be considered against a backdrop which includes the past few years of political gridlock and economic volatility.

“There is stronger evidence in other surveys that Trump's appeal is based on the resonance of his attract those who have felt resentful of their declining economic status and also the tenor of both parties' leadership in the past eight years,” explains McLean, the Quinnipiac professor. “They enjoy unorthodoxy, his salty rhetoric against 'loser' politicians of both sides, and the nationalistic promises to “make America great again” — and, by extension, make everyone 'winners.'”