ABSTRACT
Prior to the 2016 election, and since Donald Trump became the president of the United States, there has been a lot of discussion about the role media had in creating and maintaining a level of support for him. Using data from the 2016 and 2017 Texas Media & Society Surveys (TMASS), this chapter looks at the media habits of those who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 primary, those who voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, and those who approved of the job Trump was doing as president in 2017. Even when controlling for ideology, there is a significant relationship between support for Trump and conservative news reliance. The results of this analysis provide evidence that Trump’s support is connected to the media habits of his supporters.
