Most Trump voters voted for him for reasons other than his promise of a Muslim ban.

Judge as of early 2017, using 2016 election data. The claim is about voters' reasons for choosing Trump, not whether they supported a Muslim ban. True: exit polls or survey research show that well over half of Trump voters gave reasons other than the proposed Muslim ban as their main or deciding reason (for example the economy, immigration in general, opposition to Clinton, party loyalty, change). Mostly true: a majority gave other reasons, but the ban or closely related issues were a primary motive for a sizeable minority (for example 35–50%). Mixed: the evidence is split or ambiguous, with roughly half citing the ban as central. Mostly false: surveys show the ban was a main reason for a slight majority. False: surveys show the ban was the main reason for a clear majority of Trump voters.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Microsoft Word - CAP-2016PostelectionPollingMemo-Final.docx Center for American Progress and GBA Strategies

   “Half of Donald Trump’s voters said they voted for Trump mostly to “shake up the political establishment in Washington” and less than 3 in 10 said they voted mostly for his policy agenda.”

2. E2 Aversion to Other Candidate Key Factor in 2016 Vote Choice Gallup · 6 October 2016

   “Meanwhile, Trump's voters (23%) are about twice as likely as Clinton's (11%) to cite agreement with their preferred candidate on issues or policy matters.”

3. E3 Executive Summary Democracy Fund Voter Study Group · June 2017

   “Supermajorities of both candidates’ voters were merely partisans, preferring their party’s nominee to the other party’s nominee for normal partisan reasons;”

4. E4 Executive Summary Democracy Fund Voter Study Group · June 2017

   “This continuity did not, however, prevent people whose 2012 to 2016 presidential vote switched parties, from deciding the election’s outcome. They tended to think their party’s candidate’s views on immigration or Muslims were out of step with their own;”

The claim holds up: independent 2016 surveys show that most Trump voters gave reasons other than his policies, so the Muslim ban could not have been the main reason for most of them. In the Center for American Progress/GBA post-election poll, half of Trump voters said they voted for him mostly to shake up the political establishment, and fewer than 3 in 10 said they voted mostly for his policy agenda, which would include the ban (E1). In Gallup's pre-election survey, only 23% of Trump's voters gave agreement on issues or policy as their reason (E2). The Democracy Fund Voter Study Group found that supermajorities of both candidates' voters chose their party's nominee for normal partisan reasons (E3). Since fewer than 3 in 10 Trump voters said they voted mostly for his policy agenda [E1], the share whose main motive was a policy such as the ban would be under 3 in 10, below the 35–50% range the criteria set for "mostly true".