Donald Trump speaks as dozens of protesters shout during a campaign rally on March 19 in Tucson, Ariz. | AP Photo Poll: Trump voters overwhelmingly feel under attack

More than eight-in-10 Republican voters agree that America needs a powerful leader and not only believe their ideology is under attack, but also that public officials don’t value their opinions, according to a national Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.

The overwhelming share of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who feel that way is bolstered by voters supporting Donald Trump. For instance, 96 percent of his supporters said the U.S. needs a powerful leader to solve its problems, 91 percent said their beliefs and values are being threatened, and 90 percent said public officials don’t care much about what everyday people think.


“Trump supporters are true stand-outs,” Quinnipiac poll director Douglas Schwartz said. “They want a leader who is very different from the leader sought by other voters, explaining the mystery many see behind Trump’s support.”

The Republican front-runner’s supporters even value his bombastic rhetoric. Eighty-four percent said the U.S. needs a leader who will do or say anything to fix the country’s issues, a statement just 68 percent of GOP voters overall agreed with (60 percent of Democrats disagree).

The heightened concentration of Trump backers with strong feelings about being marginalized and having a bleak view of government is a consistent theme throughout the survey, as illustrated by the nine-in-10 supporters who view his campaign as a movement.

“Many American voters, especially Republicans, are dissatisfied with their own status and the status of the country, but by far the most dissatisfied are Donald Trump’s supporters, who strongly feel that they themselves and the country are under attack,” Schwartz said.

An additional 83 percent of his supporters want radical change because they don’t believe the traditional way of doing things is working. In fact, 85 percent of Trump backers say the U.S. has lost its identity, and 78 percent feel they’re falling behind economically.

The survey of 1,451 voters was conducted March 16-21 via landlines and cellphones and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.