Has there been a candidate more polarizing in the 2016 election than Donald Trump?

Superfans think he’s a genius—a plutocrat who will negotiate America into economic success and mediate between a partisan Congress. Detractors think Trump is a racist buffoon who doesn’t have anything good to say, and yet won’t keep his mouth shut. For Republicans, Trump is a refreshing choice for voters who are sick of a GOP that can’t hold together a united front.

Heading into the third Republican presidential debate, Trump—for the first time in months—is not in the top spot in the polls. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson took a national lead in a New York Times/CBS news poll published yesterday. Twenty-six percent of Republican primary voters are backing Carson, versus 22 percent for Trump. It’s a narrow lead, but one that Trump promptly questioned. After all, the billionaire has remarked, “If I fell behind badly [in the polls], I would certainly get out. I’m in this for the long haul.”

https://instagram.com/p/9XOL-fPyTK/

Still, there’s no denying Trump’s popularity, which isn’t just limited to Republicans. Reddit’s The Donald community boasts that it has more subscribers (1,165) than the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, whose community currently sits at 958.

Various threads asking why serious Trump supporters are casting their lot with the populist businessman have Redditors responding that Trump’s appeal lies in his refreshing, off-the-cuff statements. The fact that he’s not a traditional politician supported by super PACs and his unorthodox views on public policies such as immigration and social security were also among the most popular responses.

“I’m impressed by many things about Trump. I think he offers a fresh look at the office of president,” says Kevin Hess, Redditor and author of Donald Trump: A Culture Of Conflict.

Trump supporters like Hess, Jason Majewski* (moderator of Reddit’s The Donald community) and Steve Barna—who’ve all participated in various threads answering why they’re choosing to back Trump—offer their take on why the Donald is the guy who most deserves to be POTUS in 2016.

He’s Authentic

From controversial remarks on immigration to John McCain’s war record, Trump’s list of quotable quotes aren’t all that heinous to his supporters. One reason?

“Trump is one of the very few (aside from Bernie Sanders) who says stuff off the top of his head, there’s no script that he’s reading from,” explains Steve Barna, 25, a web developer from Boston. Barna isn’t a registered voter. In fact, he has never voted before.

“No candidates have ever been worth voting for before Trump,” he says.

Politically, Barna is more of a libertarian—he’s economically conservative, but socially liberal. He also doesn’t want the religious right meddling with politics or civil liberties, such as gay marriage—beliefs that he sees mirrored in Trump.

“Trump comes off as a guy who’s not hiding behind his advisers and has the potential to actually lead,“ he says. “I don’t like the cheesy nature of most politicians—most of them come out with their script and their teleprompters and read what their advisers tell them to say so that it comes off as extremely safe,” Barna continues. “Trump also doesn’t have massive millions from unseen influences coming from campaign funds from these special interest Super PACs.”

He’s a Master of the Media

Kevin Hess is the author of Donald Trump: A Culture Of Conflict, a book on how Trump climbed to the top of the polls thanks to his handling of the media and conflict. Before Trump burst into the scene, Hess voted straight Democratic ticket for 12 years.

“I lost interest in politics after the second Obama election and never expected to give a damn again,” he explains. “I literally got interested in politics again because of the sheer brilliance of Donald Trump’s political campaign. My take on the campaign is that Trump is holding a seminar on Conflict Management 101. Among the other things Trump does, he consistently engages in battles with other candidates and almost always wins them. Result: his polls go up, generally.”

DonaldJTrump.com

Hess, a writer and musician who lives in Poland (and will vote by absentee ballot), explains that Trump’s invulnerability in the face of scandal that would sink other candidates (such as insulting, as Hess describes him, “Republican sacred cow” John McCain, Rosie O’Donnell, and Megyn Kelly), demonstrated to people that Trump knows how to handle and manage conflict better than everyone else in the race combined.

“And frankly, I don’t care if he’s the meanest jerk that ever lived. If he’s the guy who can do the best for America and for the economy, I’ll live with mean 3 AM tweets and whatever else,” Hess adds.

He Has a Reputation For Being a Ferocious Negotiator

Trump supporters also point to his notoriety as a successful businessman and negotiator as his biggest selling point.

“[Being a great negotiator] has made its way into his speeches—he constantly asks, ‘What can America get out of this?’” Hess says. “Just like ‘What can I get out of this?’ in his business deals, he constantly raises the question, ‘What if America could do better in this international deal? What if America could get a better deal from Canada in the Keystone XL pipeline deal? What if America could get some sort of favors from the countries it militarily intervenes in?’ What president has been so vocal about winning for America?”

These negotiation skills would actually benefit a partisan Congress that just can’t get any bills passed.

As Barna explains, “Trump can get in there and negotiate between the different parties. Congress approval rating will go through the roof again!”

He Holds Populist Views on Public Policy

He’s an economic conservative but not a social conservative, is tough on undocumented immigrants and wants to beef up border security with a wall, and wants to bring back manufacturing jobs to America. Many of these views resonate with Americans from different ends of both the economic and social spectrum.

Jason Majewski, 31, is the moderator of Reddit’s The Donald community. He admires Trump’s immigration policies, and dislikes people who try to paint Trump as anti-immigrant:

“We’re not going to get anything meaningful done because there’s too many special interests on both sides that don’t put the country first. On the Republican side, it’s the Chamber of Commerce, and on the Democratic side, it’s both the Chamber of Commerce and the fact that they win more elections when they let this stuff continue,” he says. “I’m married to an immigrant, so I don’t dislike immigration—I dislike illegal immigration. I understand that most countries in the world suck but you can’t just come here … we can’t be the dumping ground for everyone.”

Hess adds, “Trump is actually pretty populist overall … He’s smartly taken a few conservative dog whistle positions such as presbyterianism and 2nd Amendment rights, but other than that, he’s one of the more centrist candidates.”

He’s Not in the Race For Money or Fame, and He’s Not Tied to Someone Else’s Wallet

The fact that Trump is a billionaire is a huge plus for his supporters—he doesn’t need super PACs because he has his own money. He’s not beholden to lobbyists with vested interests.

All Presidential candidates should immediately disavow their Super PAC’s. They're not only breaking the spirit of the law but the law itself — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2015

“Sure, Trump has billionaire friends, but there are certain restrictions a president has. He can’t just transparently start helping out billionaire friends,” Barna says.

“Also,” he adds, “his business is in real estate, which relies on a strong, upper-middle class. A lot of other presidents have donors in oil and industrial businesses spearheaded by Wall Street. So I really don’t think that Trump would have as wide of an influence coming from [real estate developers] as there would be on traditional politicians such as Jeb or Hillary.”

Much Like Obama, Trump Has Galvanized an Apathetic Voting Block

Trump’s campaign has been exciting for supporters who are either tired of American politics or have never been interested before.

Barna says, “I think there are people like me who have really been disgusted by these career politicians who just say scripted stuff—people who haven’t voted before—who are for Trump. We’ll have to register and vote.”

Majewski, a Connecticut resident, thinks that Trump is the best at convincing people to come over to his side:

“When he first announced his campaign I thought he was a joke,” Majewski explains. “But I think Trump has the best shot at winning … I am aware of his weaknesses as a candidate, including his huge character flaws, but he’s very good at what he’s doing.

Majewski, who works for a Fortune 500 company, says that Trump’s able to appeal to even those who don’t identify with conservative politics.

“He’s been controlling the narrative and destroying top tier campaigns for months now. He’s got broad appeal within the Republican base, plus, he appeals to people who do not traditionally vote for the Republican party,” he says. “Trump is better at dealing with the media and with persuading people than anyone in the race right now.”

He Can Turn His Weaknesses Into Strengths

Trump is an outsider, isn’t a traditional politician, and is said to be too egocentric to be president. He’s said some pretty terrible, misogynist things to women, and has acted irreverently towards multiple people in public forums.

Does that bother his supporters? Not at all.

Majewski knows, for example, that Trump can be—and has been—rude to women.

“But I don’t care. He’s rude to your face, just like he was with Lindsey Graham, giving out his cell phone [number],” he states plainly. “I understand this guy likes to work for the free publicity, but a lot of the stuff he does is calculated, so I’m not too worried about it.”

Barna thinks Trump won’t be so eager to insult his competitors once the field narrows down: “In an 11-person field, you gotta stand out and keep the media spotlight on yourself, and that’s what Trump does, even though that makes him seem immature. It’s a ploy; he’s not going to go out on a global stage and act like this immature fourth grader—he wants to be president. He’s capable of understanding where people are coming from and talk to them to reach mutual agreements, that’s been his whole business for decades.”

Hess, meanwhile, agrees: “People say Trump’s too egocentric to be president. I see someone who will want to be the best president in history, simply because he wants to one-up every single guy who came before him,” he says, “and will work himself hard to give his best effort at it, simply because he wants to be known as the guy who beat all the other guys.”

And if Trump wasn’t in the race, who would get their support?

Hess—like Barna—says, “Nobody.”

“Why bother?,” Hess asks. “What’s Hillary going to do? What’s Jeb going to do? The only interesting other character in the race right now is Bernie Sanders. He’s the only one who’s at all different from the rest of the pack. Rest of the pack are bought and paid for.”



*Name has been changed at the request of the interviewee