Donald Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon wanted to limit vote to property owners

Donald Trump’s new chief strategist once suggested only property owners should be allowed to vote in US elections, according to reports.

Steve Bannon, who was appointed the President-elect’s senior adviser and chief strategist last month, also told former colleagues he believed some people were genetically superior, according to an interview in the New York Times.

A change to allow only homeowners to vote would mean millions of African-Americans and other ethnic minorities would lose the right to cast their ballot – something Mr Bannon allegedly said was not a bad thing.

Julia Jones, a screenwriter who worked with Mr Bannon on a documentary about former US President Ronald Reagan, told the New York Times the senior Trump aide had discussed his beliefs on voting reform with her.

When challenged about the impact restricting the vote would have on racial minorities, Mr Bannon is said to have been relaxed.

“I said, ‘That would exclude a lot of African-Americans’”, Ms Jones recalled.

"He said, ‘Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.'

"I said, ‘But what about Wendy?’” - a reference to Mr. Bannon’s black executive assistant. "He said, ‘She’s different. She’s family.’”

Mr Bannon was “not a racist” but was “using the alt-right – using them for power”, Ms Jones added.

According to US Census Bureau data, only 41 per cent of black Americans own their home compared to 72 per cent of whites.

Young people would also lose out if the vote was restricted to homeowners; only 35 per cent of Americans under the age of 25 own a property compared with 79 per cent of over-65s.

It means limiting the vote would be likely to significantly benefit the Republicans, because young people and ethnic minorities are traditionally much more likely to support the Democrats.

There is no suggestion that restricting the franchise is the current policy of Mr Trump or his incoming administration.

Mr Bannon ran Mr Trump’s winning presidential campaign from August onwards, taking charge after Paul Manafort, the previous manager, resigned over his alleged close links to Russia.

Before joining the campaign, Mr Bannon ran far-right news website Breitbart News, which during his tenure ran headlines including “There’s no hiring bias against women in tech, they just suck at interviews”, “Young Muslims in the west are a ticking time bomb” and “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy”.

Mr Bannon, a controvesial figure whose appointment by Mr Trump has been widely condemned, had previously suggested he wanted to “destroy the state...bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today’s establishment”.

He was charged with domestic violence against his wife in 1996 but the charges were dropped when she failed to show up for the trial.

His former wife also accused him of saying he did not want his daughters “going to school with Jews” – an accusation Mr Bannon has strongly denied.

The Independent has contacted Mr Bannon for comment.