MS Republicans believe interracial marriage should be illegal

Maren

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A poll (link is PDF file) was conducted March 24-27 among Mississippi Republicans, with the primary questions being who they support for President and Governor. However, a question was worked in about whether interracial marriage should be legal and, in response 46% surveyed said it should be illegal with only 40% saying it should be legal. Personally, I find it sad that a majority of Republicans in Mississippi would oppose interracial marriage in this century.

Thoughts?
 

Maren

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I'm cuirous, who conducted the poll, who was polled and what were the questions used in the poll? (I don't download or open pdf files unless I'm confident I can trust them)

The company conducting the poll was Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, NC. It was Republican primary voters that were surveyed, I quoted the question above exactly as it shows in the poll.

Edit: Sorry, I had the question and apparently pulled it out of the final version of what I wrote. But the question is listed as asked in the next post.
 
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pgp_protector

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I'm cuirous, who conducted the poll,
Public Policy Polling.

who was polled
PPP surveyed 400 usual Mississippi Republican primary voters from March 24th to 27th
.
The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed
and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

and what were the questions used in the poll?

Question 14 of 17
Do you think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal?
Legal 40%
Illegal 46%
Not sure 14
(I don't download or open pdf files unless I'm confident I can trust them)
Sandboxes :)
 
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Mystman

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I'm guessing a significant percentage misunderstood the question and/or simple doesn't know what "interracial" means and thinks the question was about gay marriage.

How were the interviews conducted?
Q17: "If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4."

That makes it sound like a robot just called you and started asking questions. So maybe no possibility to go "hey, could you repeat the last question I didn't hear it right.". Also, the respondents seem to be pretty skewed towards older people? 68% of respondents was older than 45.. I'm assuming that isn't the average in the US? That older people might still hold some of the views that were common in their youth isn't so surprising.
 
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citizenthom

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It's flat-out a badly-written poll question--I won't go so far as to say deliberately so, but it is clearly prone to confusion by both the respondent and the pollster.

And why is it on there anyway? Specifically to try to make a political point out of people's confused answers.

It's either horribly unskilled polling, or horribly dishonest. Either way I won't be interested in polls from this organization in the future.
 
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Umaro

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It's flat-out a badly-written poll question--I won't go so far as to say deliberately so, but it is clearly prone to confusion by both the respondent and the pollster.

And why is it on there anyway? Specifically to try to make a political point out of people's confused answers.

It's either horribly unskilled polling, or horribly dishonest. Either way I won't be interested in polls from this organization in the future.

How do you figure "Question 14 of 17
Do you think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal?" is a badly written question? Thats about as straight forward as you can get.
 
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citizenthom

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How do you figure "Question 14 of 17
Do you think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal?" is a badly written question? Thats about as straight forward as you can get.

Ask about ten people that question, and ask it quickly, and see what happens. And I'm talking average people, not people who are used to parsing questions, and who aren't really all that interested in the question in the first place. That's who poll questions are directed toward.
 
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Umaro

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Ask about ten people that question, and ask it quickly, and see what happens. And I'm talking average people, not people who are used to parsing questions, and who aren't really all that interested in the question in the first place. That's who poll questions are directed toward.

But even then, let's assume a full half the the people who answered it should be illegal misheard the question, that still leaves 1/5 Republicans in Mississippi that do think it should be illegal.
 
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citizenthom

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No no no, Umaro. When I said "go do X" above, I meant actually go do it today. If half the people you do it to actually understand the question, then we can talk about what the poll actually means. But I doubt even 2 out of 10 will understand it the first time you ask.

FWIW, I wouldn't be surprised if 10-15% of Americans do believe interracial marriage should be illegal. That's about the lowest percentage you can get even for the craziest or most backward idea in a poll, because that's about the percentage of people who just want to screw with the pollsters.
 
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JustMeSee

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A poll (link is PDF file) was conducted March 24-27 among Mississippi Republicans, with the primary questions being who they support for President and Governor. However, a question was worked in about whether interracial marriage should be legal and, in response 46% surveyed said it should be illegal with only 40% saying it should be legal. Personally, I find it sad that a majority of Republicans in Mississippi would oppose interracial marriage in this century.

Thoughts?
I would like to believe that the poll is not accurate, nor representative of the Mississippi voters. If it is even remotely accurate, I would find it to be very disturbing.
 
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wanderingone

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I would like to believe that the poll is not accurate, nor representative of the Mississippi voters. If it is even remotely accurate, I would find it to be very disturbing.

In 2000 when Alabama voters voted on removing laws against interracial from their books (Alabama was the last state to have the laws still on the books) 40% of those who voted wanted to keep the laws on the books.

I'm not sure the party affiliation or ethnicity of those who voted to keep the law but I consider it disgusting to ask the public to vote on such a thing and quite a waste of money since the law was not enforceable. (and it's still disgusting to put the right to marry to a public vote)
 
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