Trump and Clinton Supporters Agree on Relative Morality ... Mostly

When looking at the endless scandals swirling around the heads of the two rival candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it can seem like the two candidates are equally tainted. Many people throw up their hands pleading for some other option.

How can we evaluate the alleged actions of these two candidates?

Is there some kind of objective way to do so?

And how does the decision to support a candidate affect the perception of an offense?

In order to attempt to address these questions I recruited 137 submissions on Amazon Mechanical Turk who submitted around 1100 five way "relative offense" rankings of five randomly matched actions from a list of 150. 46 submissions  were from individuals supporting Clinton, 37 from individuals supporting Trump, and 54 other or not supplied. Ranking was from 1 "Least Offensive" to 5 "Most Offensive".

Within any item set of five actions only one action could be matched with an individual ranking.
 For each action the mean number of times that action was classified under each ranking was calculated. That value was multiplied by the action ranking and summed across all levels to create an index.

The smallest index are the least offensive to non-offensive actions while the highest rankings are those actions respondents considered the most offensive.

Table 1: This table shows all 150 actions ranked from least offensive on average to most offensive as rated by all respondents. The Trump, Clinton, and Other columns are how each of these respective supporters rank the actions. A .5 means that two actions were ranked the same. The Trump_Clinton column is calculated by taking the rankings of Trump supporters for an action and subtracting the rank for those actions for Clinton supporters. Values in which Trump supporters and Clinton supporters diverge by more than 30 ranks are highlighted.

All	Trump	Clinton	Other	Trump_Clinton	*Scandal	Action
1	5	2	2.5	3		Eating meat.
2	1	2	15	-1		Posting a much younger picture of yourself on a dating website.
3	6.5	5.5	8	1		Not wearing your seat belt when driving.
4	15.5	2	6	13.5		Dating someone of a different race.
5	2.5	15	2.5	-12.5	Donald Trump	Swearing in public.
6	8.5	17	2.5	-8.5		Offering to pay someone 10 cents for every paper they deliver.
7	6.5	12	17.5	-5.5		Stealing candy from a baby.
8	12	25	10	-13		Jumping in line in front of someone else when waiting for customer service.
9	2.5	27	21	-24.5		Not tipping a waiter after average service.
10	4	14	33.5	-10		Hoard the armrest when sitting next to a stranger on a plane or movie theater.
11	60.5	5.5	5	55		Having sex with someone of the same gender.
12	27	8	38	19	Trey Radel	Buying illegal drugs for personal consumption.
13	25.5	11	28.5	14.5		Using toilet paper to vandalizing a stranger's house.
14	37	13	25	24		Taking the cab hailed for someone else.
15	29	27	12	2		Leaving chewing gum under a public table.
16	13	57.5	20	-44.5		Exaggerating the size of your penis in order to convince someone to have sex with you.
17	25.5	4	45	21.5		Illegally copying copyrighted music.
18	18	16	32	2		Not voting.
19	22	9	48	13		Illegally streaming copyrighted videos.
20	17	21.5	30.5	-4.5		Publishing with permission a different person's work as your own.
21	30	51.5	12	-21.5		Hunting a wild animal.
22	8.5	20	45	-11.5		Using a bad or ineffective preparedness test to screen potential students.
23	57.5	36.5	12	21		Sticking gum in someone's hair.
24	43	40.5	22	2.5		Having sex with your landlord to pay the rent.
25	20	7	50.5	13		Not flushing a public toilet after pooping.
26	46.5	36.5	14	10	Hillary Clinton	Continuing to stay married to your spouse after that person had multiple affairs.
27.5	32	33.5	19	-1.5		Paying a prostitute for sex.
27.5	10.5	18	27	-7.5		Spending money on something you do not need such as entertainment when you know there are people dying of hunger next door.
29	15.5	66	9	-50.5	Donald Trump	Earning 1000 times more money per hour as your lowest paid full-time employees.
30	46.5	39	7	7.5		Voting illegally twice.
31	10.5	29	40.5	-18.5	IRS	Using public funds to pay for professional development conferences which may not be very productive.
32	21	27	26	-6	Hillary Clinton	Refusing to release the transcripts of paid speeches you gave.
33	28	61	17.5	-33		Earning 1000 times more money per hour as your lowest paid contractor.
34	34	40.5	23	-6.5		Lying about damages in order to keep a tenant's security deposit.
35	63	64	2.5	-1	FBI	Selling guns with GPS trackers in them to a dangerous illegal organization with the intention of using the data to prosecute the organization.
36	19	19	65	0		Urinating on a toilet seat and not cleaning it.
37	74.5	61	24	13.5	Donald Trump	Misrepresenting your success to convince others to invest in you.
38	65	51.5	28.5	13.5	Donald Trump	Reposting images from a white supremacist group.
39	23.5	54	40.5	-30.5		Writing false review's on a business's website because you are angry with them.
40	49.5	31.5	30.5	18		Sneaking out of a resturant without paying for a meal.
41	14	21.5	81	-7.5		Copying a fellow student's homework.
42	35	57.5	39	-22.5	Hillary Clinton	A politician lying or falsely representing one quarter (25%) of his/her public statements.
43	32	36.5	58	-4.5		Stealing products from a convenience store. (Shoplifting)
44	55	77.5	42.5	-22.5	Donald Trump	Falsely reporting the magnitude of your donations to charities to make yourself look better.
45.5	52.5	45.5	52	7	Donald Trump	Publicly shaming someone for being fat or ugly.
45.5	81.5	69	16	12.5		Refusing to renounce the endorsement of a white supremacist group.
47	23.5	43	72	-19.5		Speeding through a school zone.
48	52.5	49	45	3.5		Promising special interest groups to vote for them if they donate to your campaign.
49	79	24	53	55		Masturbating in a public bathroom.
50	57.5	61	36	-3.5	Donald Trump	Lying about the number of floors in a building you own in order to charge higher rent.
51	41	71	60	-30		Using spray paint to vandalize a stranger's car.
52	41	36.5	68	4.5		Smoking in an area around non-smokers where "no smoking" signs are posted.
53	74.5	42	48	32.5		Spitting in someone's soup when they are not looking.
54	41	64	55.5	-23		Publishing without permission a different person's work as your own.
55	44	112	50.5	-68		Publicly renouncing homosexuality while secretly having sex with gay prostitutes.
56	74.5	48	48	26.5		Publicizing false claims about a person because you are angry with that person.
57	66.5	47	55.5	19.5	Chris Christie	Using your position to control how public funds are used in to punish a political rival.
58	32	51.5	63	-19.5		Providing alcohol to minors (a person less than 18 years old).
59	92	44	35	48		A public official hiring a less qualified friend over a well qualified stranger.
60	74.5	56	42.5	18.5		A fully mobile person refusing to give up a seat to a disabled or infirm person.
61	46.5	93	33.5	-46.5		Publicizing someone's address in an attempt to intimidate someone else.
62	39	10	89	29	Donald Trump	Judging a person on their appearance.
63	52.5	68	61	-15.5		Selling illegal drugs.
64	74.5	31.5	75	43	Hillary Clinton	Improperly storing national secrets.
65	52.5	64	77.5	-11.5	Donald Trump	A politician lying or falsely representing three quarters (75%) of his/her public statements.
66	81.5	30	70	51.5	Donald Trump	Enjoying firing people from their occupation.
67	68	86.5	54	-18.5		Stealing large sums of money from a company you work for.
68	46.5	100	57	-53.5	Donald Trump	Earning over 10 million dollars in a year and not paying any federal income taxes.
69	60.5	89	64	-28.5	Donald Trump	Filing bankruptcy in order to avoid paying the people who worked for you.
70	63	51.5	83.5	11.5		Sabotaging a competitors work.
71	81.5	73	73	8.5		Setting up fake accounts for your customers in order to increase profits.
72	81.5	23	93	58.5		Publicly exposing yourself.
73	100.5	101	37	-0.5	Donald Trump	Enter the occupied changing room of members of the opposite sex without consent.
74	49.5	83	77.5	-33.5	Clinton/Trump	A politician accepting money from special interest groups.
75	37	74	99	-37		A police officer accepting a bribe in exchange for not writing a ticket.
76	106.5	81	67	25.5		Stealing someone's car.
77	95	95.5	66	-0.5		Driving drunk or high.
78	66.5	77.5	80	-11	IRS	Using public funds designated for tax collection to produce a parody video.
79	57.5	92	77.5	-34.5		Using racial epitaphs.
80	57.5	33.5	94	24		Cheating on a test.
81	90	59	74	31		Not giving food to a starving person in front of you.
82	63	85	62	-22		A politician lying or falsely representing half (50%) of his/her public statements.
83	95	72	86.5	23	Anthony Weiner	A married person sending photographs of his/her genitalia to someone who is not that person's spouse.
84	111.5	67	82	44.5		Giving a blind person inaccurate change because they cannot tell the difference.
85	106.5	84	71	22.5		Urging someone who is attempting to remain sober to take a drink.
86	93	70	83.5	23		Without authorization setting up and using a credit card in another person's name.
87	100.5	45.5	106	55		Masturbating in public.
88	84.5	86.5	77.5	-2		Using public resources entrusted to your care to enrich yourself.
89	108	75	69	33		Mocking a disabled person for a physical handicap.
90	84.5	77.5	85	7		Bribing a public official to enrich oneself.
91	109	105.5	59	3.5	Donald Trump	Setting up a fake educational institution in order to enrich yourself.
92	37	94	111.5	-57		Torturing criminals as punishment for crimes.
93	90	88	95	2	Bill Clinton	Cheating on your wife/husband.
94	69.5	102	91	-32.5		Stalking someone you know in order to intimidate that person.
95	88	55	111.5	33	Doctor Kevorkian	Killing someone who is in pain and going to die within the next six months and wants help dying.
96	98	90.5	86.5	7.5	Tonya Harding	Hiring someone to break the leg of a rival athlete.
97	74.5	90.5	101	-16		Using threats of lawsuits to silence a woman who claims to have been assaulted by you.
98	114	82	98	32	Hillary Clinton	Using a private email server resulting in the risk of compromised national security.
99	87	97	107.5	-10		Writing laws to prevent people who do not support you from voting.
100	74.5	107	105	-32.5		Requiring a starving person attend your religious gathering before providing giving food.
101	97	98.5	104	-1.5	Donald Trump	Using your superior physical strength to force a person to kiss you.
102	86	103.5	107.5	-17.5		Stealing someone's identity in order to commit a crime.
103	103	80	113.5	23		Burning down your house to claim the insurance money.
104	111.5	114	90	-2.5		Using public resources entrusted to your care to enrich an ally or friend.
105	100.5	115	97	-14.5		Preventing someone from registering their child in your school because of that person's skin color.
106	116	109	100	7	Adolf Hitler	Encouraging racially motivated violence to promote your political aspirations.
107	104	120	102	-16		Bribing a public official to protect oneself.
108	74.5	118	115	-43.5		Rejecting someone's rental application because of that person's skin color.
109	90	124.5	109	-34.5	Bill Cosby	Sneaking a drug into someone's food or drink in order to force that person to have sex with you.
110	119	128	88	-9		Killing a healthy and well behaved pet for because you don't have to the time to take care of it.
111	100.5	105.5	110	-5		Stealing someone's needed pain medication for personal use.
112	139.5	123	96	16.5		Killing a healthy and well behaved pet because you find the animal annoying.
113	143	103.5	92	39.5	Edward Snowden	Publicizing national security secrets which might result in lives being lost.
114	114	95.5	121.5	18.5	Donald Trump	Threatening to sue someone in order to keep them from telling the truth.
115	132	124.5	103	7.5		A person of influence encouraging a crowd to physically attack someone or a group of people he/she does not like.
116	69.5	117	127	-47.5	George W Bush	Torturing terrorists with the hope of gathering information about future terrorist plots.
117	121	77.5	143.5	43.5		Ordering the assassination of a dictator.
118	105	120	126	-15		Recording someone having sex without their knowledge.
119	114	122	121.5	-8		Restricting the use of life saving technology in order to increase profits.
120	136	108	116.5	28		Misrepresenting the effectiveness of a life saving drug in order to increase profits.
121	133	98.5	131	34.5		Killing someone who is in pain and going to die within the next six months but does not want to die.
122	117	110	146.5	7		Not reporting an instance of known child abuse when you are legally mandated to report.
123	130.5	136.5	113.5	-6		Physically abusing your spouse.
124	128.5	112	125	16.5		Sending someone's spouse to the front line to die in order to marry the surviving window.
125	122	135	120	-13		Hiding information about the health risks of deadly product you sell.
126	124.5	134	123.5	-9.5		Stealing large sums of money from a mentally infirm client.
127	110	144	135	-34		A medical doctor refusing to treat a patient who needs urgent care because they are unable to pay.
128	119	129	123.5	-10		Significantly raising the price of a life saving drug in order to increase profits.
129	139.5	131	116.5	8.5		Viewing child pornography.
130	141.5	138	118	3.5		Killing a healthy and well behaved pet for fun.
131	119	143	128	-24		Someone with a known dangerous sexually transmitted disease having unprotected sex with someone who is unaware of the condition.
132	123	133	131	-10		Using your superior physical strength to hold an unwilling person while you grabbed their genitalia.
133	128.5	116	131	12.5	Brock Turner	Taking and sharing naked pictures of a person who is unconscious.
134	124.5	131	136.5	-6.5	Brock Turner	Have involuntary sex with a person you find unconscious.
135.5	130.5	112	136.5	18.5	Vladimir Putin	Assassinating a political rival.
135.5	127	145	129	-18		Physically forcing your spouse to have sex with you.
137	95	149.5	141.5	-54.5	Harry S Truman	Dropping an atomic bomb on a civilian city controlled by a rival nation
138	148.5	139	119	9.5		Allowing the executing of a convict if you have secret knowledge of the person's innocence.
139.5	138	120	149	18		A 40 year old having sex with a fifteen year old.
139.5	148.5	136.5	148	12		Using your power to pressure an employee to have sex with you.
141	137	140	141.5	-3		Not reporting an instance of known child sexual abuse.
142	148.5	126	138	22.5		Killing innocent people to further your political agenda.
143	144.5	142	139.5	2.5	Adolf Hitler	Encouraging people who follow you to attack and kill people you do not like.
144	144.5	127	139.5	17.5		Killing your spouse to claim the life insurance premium.
145	134.5	141	146.5	-6.5		Killing someone for their money.
146	126	131	145	-5	George Washington	Possessing a personal slave who has no human rights.
147	134.5	147	134	-12.5	Donald Trump	Groping without warning the genitalia of someone else.
148	148.5	146	133	2.5		Making child pornography.
149	141.5	148	143.5	-6.5		Killing innocent people for personal reasons such as curiosity or entertainment.
150	146	149.5	150	-3.5		Killing somebody to protect your reputation.

* Please note that I am making no claim to the veracity of the scandal.
** Upon viewing this list I realize that there are a number of scandals I forgot to include related to Hillary. I am unconvinced that any of them would have been ranked very high on the list. However they should have been included. Sorry team Trump.

General Differences
Looking at the table we can see that generally it agrees with out intuition with innocuous or generally non-offensive actions being ranked at the top, while actions that involve doing significant harm to others being ranked at the bottom.

Interestingly the rankings between Trump and Clinton supporters agree generally with a 84% correlation in ranking values.

From the differences in rankings of actions between Clinton and Trump supporters we start to get an idea on how these two different groups think. The largest difference is 68 ranks of difference with Trump supporters much more accepting than Clinton supporters of "Publicly renouncing homosexuality while secretly having sex with gay prostitutes". Clinton supporters seem less tolerant of deception in general with exaggerations of penis size and the writing of false reviews on business webpages being ranked much more offensive than their Trump counterparts.

Clinton supporters also find it generally more offensive to do harm to others such as dropping the atomic bomb on civilian populations and torturing terrorists or criminals.

The two camps have fiercely different perspectives on money. Clinton supporters are very concerned with the perceived injustices caused by unequal access to resources. These supporters are much more prone to rank as more offensive inequality in earnings as well as politicians accepting public donations. These supporters find it much more offensive for a doctor to refuse treatment on the basis of insufficient funds.

There also appears to be a difference in how concerned Trump supporters are with racial inequality with Trump supporters much less concerned with the act of rejecting an applicant due to the color of skin or minding the use of racial epitaphs.

Scandals
Perhaps unsurprisingly for the largest scandals Trump supporters and Clinton supporters seem to disagree with how offensive the actions of their candidates are. Clinton supports find the surprise groping of genitalia one of the worse actions someone can take while Trump supporters place it a bit lower on the list. For Trump supporters, improperly storing national secrets and using a private email server are ranked as much more offensive than for Clinton supporters.

Summary
While Clinton and Trump supporters mostly agree in generally how they rank objectionable actions, they do seem to disagree in some areas that seem consistent with differences in popular representation. Clinton supporters being concerned with economic, social, and political justice. Trump supporters being concerned with protecting economic rights as well as individual freedoms such as the right to offend others through word or deed.