1/3 of democrats believe it's racist to criticize a politician of color

Calminian said:

According to a recent poll, a shocking number of democrats believe it is actually racist to criticize a "politician of color".

Poll: A Third Of Democrats Believe It’s Racist To Criticize Politicians Of Color

A new poll suggests that nearly one third of Democrats believe white politicians who criticize politicians of color are racist.

Rasmussen conducted the survey with 1,000 registered voters between July 15-16th. The survey found that 32% of Democrats agree that it is racist for any white politician to criticize the political views of politician of color.​

This is fascinating on so many levels. America is the least racist country in all of history. We truly live in a blessed time, just as MKL hoped for. Yet we have people who think like this. Amazing.

I've never seen any group strive harder to accuse innocent people of racism. To me this is worse than racism, as it includes bearing false witness, which made the top ten.

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Doesn't this also suggest that about 66% don't believe it is racist to criticize a politician of color?

Ana the Ist said:

Rasmussen leans right? I can't say I've ever heard that before....

I posted a link already but here's the exact wording....

"2* Is it racist for a white politician to criticize the political views of a politician of color?"

I honestly can't think of a clearer or more direct way to answer that question. I'm not blaming anyone for having doubts....but the problem here isn't that anyone misunderstood or was tricked by the question. It's a 3 question survey....so it's not like it was difficult to follow. Rasmussen rates the results as 95% accurate.

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Look up any of their polls. They are usually a few points toward the right compared to other polls.

I said I couldn't find the question previously, so tone it down, ok? If that's the question, then people shouldn't be saying yes. It is only a third though. So there's that.

LoAmmi said:

I said I couldn't find the question previously, so tone it down, ok? If that's the question, then people shouldn't be saying yes. It is only a third though. So there's that.

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Only a third though? Seems like a lot.

Just like there were quite a few Repubicans who defended Trump's statements.

Neither seems particularly defensible.

This is slightly off topic, but is responding to something said earlier in the thread regarding comparisons. Martin Luther King Jr. certainly deserved his peace prize. Obama was at war during all 8 years, in various countries and dropped over 100k bombs. His administration sold more weapons internationally than the Bush administration. His was more of an aspirational award, and was misplaced.

Obama dropped more bombs than Bush. Trumps is on pace to drop more bombs than Obama. The war machine keeps going regardless of which party is in power. And they keep raising the military budget with very little discussion.

tall73 said:

Only a third though? Seems like a lot.

Just like there were quite a few Repubicans who defended Trump's statements.

Neither seems particularly defensible.

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Look at stuff like flat Earth and antivax. There's always some percentage of nutty people. We also don't know why they answered the question like they did.

LoAmmi said:

Look at stuff like flat Earth and antivax. There's always some percentage of nutty people. We also don't know why they answered the question like they did.

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Since this poll was in the aftermath of recent events I am sure some answered it in light of those events on both sides.

Some republicans might find Trump's statements racist, but don't want to feed the media narrative.

Some on the left might not generally think that minorities who hold office are beyond reproach, but in light of recent events think that they are being targeted.

Then again, there is also the possibility that AOCs comments regarding Pelosi criticizing women of color may have been in mind as well.

I'd say 100% of Trump supporters believe unquestionable loyalty to turnip should be the only option.

I can Only say neither myself and any left wing person I know disagrees with that sentiment

tall73 said:

Since this poll was in the aftermath of recent events I am sure some answered it in light of those events on both sides.

Some republicans might find Trump's statements racist, but don't want to feed the media narrative.

Some on the left might not generally think that minorities who hold office are beyond reproach, but in light of recent events think that they are being targeted.

Then again, there is also the possibility that AOCs comments regarding Pelosi criticizing women of color may have been in mind as well.

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True. I'm sure if you polled people right after 9/11 if we should bomb the entire Middle East into oblivion, they would have agreed. The current situation is very important.

LoAmmi said:

I can't tell without the question. They definitely lean right, so they may have worded things to make the left look bad.

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Here's the questions.
Questions - Racism in Politics - July 15-16, 2019 - Rasmussen Reports®

Hank77 said:

Here's the questions.
Questions - Racism in Politics - July 15-16, 2019 - Rasmussen Reports®

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And what were the answer options? Simply agree/disagree? This or that?

Looks like a poll with an agenda

Question 1 is a poorly worded prime the pump question presenting a false dichotomy.

Question 2 (which is the only result being discussed by Rasmussen and the Daily Caller) has people thinking about Question 1 when they answer the question such that it skews results. It also presents a false dichotomy - the correct answer is it depends on the context and nature of the criticism - both "agree" and "disagree" are poor choices.

KCfromNC said:

Anyone else find the off-topic jump from the OP to the subjects covered this rant particularly telling?

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It should be telling. When I cannot even speak about issues or even confront an individual for actions just because of that individuals skin tone; there is a problem.

1/3 of democrats believe it's racist to criticize a politician of color

My contention is how does the color of someones skin make them incontestable? How is that not racist in of itself? A politician is in the public's purview, and is in the court of public opinions. Take Ilhan Omar for an example, I do not need hatred for 10's of millions of other people that share her skin tone, to dislike her policies or ever her, herself. I do not understand how people that act as an individual, believe an entire race is affronted when only they themselves, as individuals, are being addressed or confronted.

Calminian said:

Whether you're talking to racists, antisemites, etc., there are always excuses, excuses, excuses. But this but that, but this but that, etc.

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True. However, I was not making an excuse. I already called 1/3 who held that view indefensible earlier.

I am however noting that polls are influenced by recent events.
Describing behavior is not the same as condoning behavior.

I say let's stop making excuses and follow Christ. All racism is evil. The idea that one person of a particular race can never question another person of a particular race is evil. There are never good excuses for racism. Period. That is the Christian position.

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I also agree there are never good excuses for racism, especially among Christians.

I just think that might carry more weight if you were not defending Trump on his most recent statements in this thread. Because they are not very defensible either.

archarios said:

This is absolutely correct. And i would add that there is never an excuse to call ones political opponents racists, bigots, and nazis because one is feeling upset and powerless by the fact that the opposing party's person temporarily has the Presidency.

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False accusations of racism are certainly a reality. And playing identity politics are certainly a reality.

But at some point Trump sets the table for them a bit too well to blame them. Telling people to go back where they came from has been associated with racism for a long time. And in this case it potentially violates Federal guidelines on discrimination regarding national origin.

Facts About Employment Rights of Immigrants Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws

Ethnic slurs and other verbal or physical conduct because of nationality are illegal if they are severe or pervasive and create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment, interfere with work performance, or negatively affect job opportunities. Examples of potentially unlawful conduct include insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's foreign accent or comments like, "Go back to where you came from, " whether made by supervisors or by co-workers.

Now AOC's comments about Pelosi are perhaps a better example of what you are speaking of. Pelosi criticized them, and they hinted at, then denied, then hinted at race being a factor.

LostMarbels said:

It should be telling. When I cannot even speak about issues or even confront an individual for actions just because of that individuals skin tone; there is a problem.

1/3 of democrats believe it's racist to criticize a politician of color

My contention is how does the color of someones skin make them incontestable? How is that not racist in of itself? A politician is in the public's purview, and is in the court of public opinions. Take Ilhan Omar for an example, I do not need hatred for 10's of millions of other people that share her skin tone, to dislike her policies or ever her, herself. I do not understand how people that act as an individual, believe an entire race is affronted when only they themselves, as individuals, are being addressed or confronted.

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imo, you are not wrong here and I agree it's a form of racism to act differently with someone who isn't your race than you would with someone who is your race.

KCfromNC said:

Man, anyone want to dissect this first question from the poll :

Which is closer to your point of view – that President Trump is a racist or that his opponents are accusing him of racism for political gain​

Seems like a really weird set of options. I mean, first off, both can be true. What are you supposed to say if that's the case?

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Probably "both".

Also, why not add in a "I don't believe the President of the US is an overt racist"? I mean, have they conceded that he is, and the question is now just the best way to react to it? Maybe given the ~50% "President Trump is a racist" response that's just being practical, I don't know.

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Well it's clearly about accusing him of being racist.

Finally, given this is the first question, it sure seems like a prime example of working to bias the poll via priming. It certainly adds a lot of unspoken subtext to the subsequent questions in the poll.

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Lol not really....nice try though.

whatbogsends said:

And what were the answer options? Simply agree/disagree? This or that?

Looks like a poll with an agenda

Question 1 is a poorly worded prime the pump question presenting a false dichotomy.

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It's not a false dichotomy.

Question 2 (which is the only result being discussed by Rasmussen and the Daily Caller) has people thinking about Question 1 when they answer the question such that it skews results. It also presents a false dichotomy - the correct answer is it depends on the context and nature of the criticism - both "agree" and "disagree" are poor choices.

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How can criticizing one's "political views" be "racist"?

LoAmmi said:

Look up any of their polls. They are usually a few points toward the right compared to other polls.

I said I couldn't find the question previously, so tone it down, ok? If that's the question, then people shouldn't be saying yes. It is only a third though. So there's that.

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It's only a third?

A third seems like a lot for a group of people constantly accusing people of racism.

Ana the Ist said:

A quick check shows that it seems really unlikely that the wording is incorrect...

Questions - Racism in Politics - July 15-16, 2019 - Rasmussen Reports®

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I didn't see the poll questions linked on the Rasmussen page that was linked in the article, so thanks for finding that.

As has already been pointed out, there are some potential issues with the poll. For one, without the answer options (and a subsequent breakdown of results), it's hard to interpret. That's not a black-and-white question - there are shades of gray. It certainly can be racist, but it's not always racist. If the answer options were simply yes/no or agree/disagree, then the question is absolutely flawed. And if they had other answer options but counted the "sometimes/it depends/maybe" responses as "yes" for reporting purposes, then they did fudge the results.

Second, the analysis is skewed - the article in the OP makes it sound as though the respondents are saying that it's always racist for a white politician to criticize the political views of a black politician, but that's not what the question was asking.

Going into the other questions, the first one is poorly worded so as to create a false dichotomy. Trump being a racist does not preclude his political opponents using that against him (and vice versa). The third question, while interesting, also makes the poll's bias pretty obvious. The "reverse racism" idea has been a right-wing deflection for a long time now, and while it does have some merit in that racism can go both ways on a personal level, it's not really relevant to the discussion of racism in the US, which is more related to institutional racism.

If you're surprised by the results....I gotta ask why? If people buy into ideas like white privilege, white fragility, whitesplaining and other "newspeak" terms that are mainly a part of left wing racial dialogues (you simply don't see the right talking about these ideas except when pointing out their flaws)....this is the logical conclusion.

Why wouldn't they believe that it's racist to criticize non-whites' political views? Or is it just startling to see such a large portion of the party believe in something so clearly racist?

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I find it surprising because I don't see the left talking about those terms either - apart from white privilege, but not in the way that you view it. This forum is literally the only place I've ever seen the term "white fragility" mentioned. Those are very much fringe views. While I have no doubt that there are people who believe that it's always racist for a white person to criticize a black person, I can't see how they could make up a full third of Democrats based on my own interactions with members of my party.