Readers of the Harry Potter series are more likely to dislike Donald Trump than people who have not read the wizardry-based works, a new study reported by Time has discovered. The results hold true even after controlling for party affiliation, age, gender, education, religion, and other factors.
The same cannot be said of people who have only watched the Harry Potter movies, however. The study's researchers conclude this may be because the films are shorter and also, because potential movie-goers with conservative viewpoints may avoid seeing them. But readers of the books are perhaps influenced on how they feel about Trump because they "see parallels between Trump's political style and the book's villain, Lord Voldemort," Time writes.
"I think a lot of the identification of Trump's dominating kind of politics is something people associate with Voldemort, so it makes some sense that if you have been exposed to these long series of books where he is the ultimate kind of incarnation of evil, that the characteristics that are more aggressive tactics and so forth that Trump represents are less attractive," said Diana Mutz, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Trump's alma mater.
Mutz also credited the series' pro-tolerance messages for swaying readers away from the controversial Republican nominee. "The story is entertaining, people like the characters in it, and the lessons it teaches are far more subtle than hitting you over the head with what kind of political candidate you should support," she said.
The study surveyed 1,200 subjects. Jeva Lange
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