- Apr 11, 2015
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When asked why most blacks vote Democrat, the most common answer Republicans give is that we want "free stuff." It was even Mitt Romney's explanation for why only 6% of blacks voted for him in 2012 (I have no idea why it's that high). That leaves me gasping—they really can't find a better explanation?
If we just wanted "free stuff," only blacks who couldn't afford that "free stuff" by themselves would vote Democrat—but as a matter of fact, upper- and middle-class blacks overwhelmingly vote Democrat too. Blacks with above-average incomes are actually further to the left economically than poor whites.
Most blacks do support the universal availability of some very important things—but for everyone's sake, not just theirs. It's called human solidarity, and it's not unique to black people: Most whites also think everyone should have food, shelter, healthcare, pre-K, and higher education, mostly by huge margins. And let's not forget that we already have "free" fire departments, police departments, roads, bridges, schools, etc., etc. It turns out, "free stuff" is really popular across all racial castes.
Almost all Americans even support means-tested programs like welfare and food stamps—a lot of them just don't know it. 40% of Americans think TANF is the largest part of the federal budget, and the average person thinks Medicaid is 15% of the federal budget, food stamps are 10%, and housing assistance for the poor is 7%. But the actual cost of those programs is much smaller: Medicaid is really around 8%, food stamps are 2%, housing assistance to the poor is 2%, and TANF is 0.4%. And the vast majority of Americans don't want to cut the vastly inflated amounts they think we're spending on them! So basically, even most whites want to expand Medicaid twice over, food stamps fivefold, public housing fourfold, and TANF like fifty times over, without realizing it.
But I don't think the claim is just that blacks want "free stuff"—it usually carries the implication that we don't want to work. It's a popular belief; you can easily find examples of politicians saying it (or for that matter, posters on christianforums). Paul Ryan—who was Mitt Romney's running mate and is now Speaker of the House—complained about "Generations of men in the inner cities not even thinking about working." Buuuut, it turns out there is no epidemic of blacks refusing to work. The labor participation rate is almost the same for blacks as whites. Since the gap is only two percentage points, I bet it wouldn't exist at all if blacks had the same employment opportunities.
What about overwhelming black support for things you have to work for? Over 90% of blacks support guaranteeing paid vacation, paid sick leave, and paid maternity leave, like every other first world country already does (and almost 80% of whites agree with them). 90% of blacks support a $10.10 minimum wage, 80% support a $15 minimum wage, and 50% support a $20 minimum wage (still less than what fast-food workers make in Denmark and Norway). 85% of blacks think the government should provide a job for everyone who can't find employment in the private sector. No one who doesn't want to work would benefit from any of those things.
If the Republican Party wants to know why most blacks vote Democrat, it should try doing some research, or just asking a few black people, instead of defaulting to the first stereotypical explanation that comes to mind.
If we just wanted "free stuff," only blacks who couldn't afford that "free stuff" by themselves would vote Democrat—but as a matter of fact, upper- and middle-class blacks overwhelmingly vote Democrat too. Blacks with above-average incomes are actually further to the left economically than poor whites.
Most blacks do support the universal availability of some very important things—but for everyone's sake, not just theirs. It's called human solidarity, and it's not unique to black people: Most whites also think everyone should have food, shelter, healthcare, pre-K, and higher education, mostly by huge margins. And let's not forget that we already have "free" fire departments, police departments, roads, bridges, schools, etc., etc. It turns out, "free stuff" is really popular across all racial castes.
Almost all Americans even support means-tested programs like welfare and food stamps—a lot of them just don't know it. 40% of Americans think TANF is the largest part of the federal budget, and the average person thinks Medicaid is 15% of the federal budget, food stamps are 10%, and housing assistance for the poor is 7%. But the actual cost of those programs is much smaller: Medicaid is really around 8%, food stamps are 2%, housing assistance to the poor is 2%, and TANF is 0.4%. And the vast majority of Americans don't want to cut the vastly inflated amounts they think we're spending on them! So basically, even most whites want to expand Medicaid twice over, food stamps fivefold, public housing fourfold, and TANF like fifty times over, without realizing it.
But I don't think the claim is just that blacks want "free stuff"—it usually carries the implication that we don't want to work. It's a popular belief; you can easily find examples of politicians saying it (or for that matter, posters on christianforums). Paul Ryan—who was Mitt Romney's running mate and is now Speaker of the House—complained about "Generations of men in the inner cities not even thinking about working." Buuuut, it turns out there is no epidemic of blacks refusing to work. The labor participation rate is almost the same for blacks as whites. Since the gap is only two percentage points, I bet it wouldn't exist at all if blacks had the same employment opportunities.
What about overwhelming black support for things you have to work for? Over 90% of blacks support guaranteeing paid vacation, paid sick leave, and paid maternity leave, like every other first world country already does (and almost 80% of whites agree with them). 90% of blacks support a $10.10 minimum wage, 80% support a $15 minimum wage, and 50% support a $20 minimum wage (still less than what fast-food workers make in Denmark and Norway). 85% of blacks think the government should provide a job for everyone who can't find employment in the private sector. No one who doesn't want to work would benefit from any of those things.
If the Republican Party wants to know why most blacks vote Democrat, it should try doing some research, or just asking a few black people, instead of defaulting to the first stereotypical explanation that comes to mind.
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