Replication Data for The Trump Effect: How 2016 Campaign Rallies Explain Spikes in Hate

The 2016 Trump campaign held over 300 rallies. Our research examines whether these rallies and Trump’s rhetoric served as opportunities for the spread of hate by measuring the number of reported white supremacist propaganda, anti-Semitic incidents, and extremist behaviors that occurred both leading up to and directly following these campaign events. We argue that Trump’s rhetoric and rallies served to increase the perceived threat facing white Americans, heightening their white identity, all while justifying violence and extra-legal methods to address their grievances, thus increasing reported bias-incidents. We find counties that hosted a Trump rally saw an increase in hate-motivated events. We systematically show that Trump political rallies are associated with a significant and substantial rise in the likelihood of reported hate and bias-incidents.