Almost half of Mississippi Republican voters polled said interracial marriage should be illegal

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150569/what_shocking_new_polls_on_republican_attitudes_toward_slavery,_interracial_marriage_say_about_the_modern_gop/

What Shocking New Polls on Republican Attitudes Toward Slavery, Interracial Marriage Say About the Modern GOP

In a recent survey, almost half of Mississippi Republican voters polled said interracial marriage should be illegal. Sad thing is, that's not even very surprising.

April 11, 2011 |

<snip>Yesterday, the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, CNN released a poll that showed that 25 percent of the general public and some 40 percent of Southerners sympathize more with the rebellious Confederacy than with the Union. And in a particularly revealing inversion of the historical record--more than half of the Republicans surveyed believe that slavery was not the cause of the Civil War.

Not content to merely support an insurrection against the duly elected government of the United States, 80 percent of the Republicans surveyed by CNN also expressed admiration for the leaders of the South--a cabal whose allegiance to white supremacy was most tellingly summed up by the Vice President of the Confederacy's sentiment that its, "...foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based on this great physical, philosophical and moral truth.”

Echoing the Tea Party GOP's neo-Confederate longings, last week an equally troubling bit of polling data was released which highlighted how the Right-wing yearns for a return to “tradition” and the “good old days” in the Age of Obama.

Public Policy Polling surveyed self-identified Republican voters in Mississippi. They were asked a series of questions regarding issue positions and their likelihood of voting for a given Republican presidential candidate in the 2012 race. Among their findings: apparently, race still matters to the good Tea Party GOP voters of Mississippi, with 46 percent of the respondents indicating that interracial marriage should be illegal. And in good news for Sarah Palin, those who supported her were significantly more likely to oppose marriage across the colorline.

[think]

1. yikes /nt

[Poll_Blind]

2. Dude.

That is beyond fucked.

PB

[LonePirate]

4. Just as bad, nary a Rethug leader will criticize the rampant racism in their party

The Rethug party is the cess pool of modern world politics.

[TrollBuster9090]

22. It's also old news. The only thing that's beyond fucked is..

..the fact that Democrats aren't using these facts as wedge issues.
Seriously, guys, is it "unsportsmanlike conduct" to point out that half the Republicans in the south thing INTERRACIAL marriage should be illegal, nevermind same sex marriage.

How hard is it to
1. Highlight stance on interracial marriage...extend to same sex marriage.
2. Highlight GOP stance on flying the Confederate flag over southern state capitals...extend to stance on slavery's role in the civil war, and the overall GOP stance on "states rights." (ie-the true underlying reason for their obsession with states rights.) Then EXTEND southern Jim Crowe laws on voting tests to CURRENT GOP obsession with VOTER ID laws, which are really meant to accomplish the same goal.
3. I forgot the third one. Ooops....
Oh wait! Now I remember! Highlight their false stance on Obama being a Muslim...extend to religious intollerance and theocracy.

[Poll_Blind]

28. You don't know why? It'll tell you but it'll make you sick when you think about it.

They don't bring these things up because they want those votes. They want the votes of the people who feel like puking when they see a black man and a white woman kissing.

I agree with your first and second points but they won't be part of a local or national platform any time soon because of the motivation I described above. For a long time, and still sometimes now, I used to believe that politicians were totally clueless. They're not. Obviously, if an individual is able to ascend to a notable public office either they or their staff have to be pretty goddamned sharp people. And so the other side of the coin is they do not do these things for some reason. And the reason is they want them votes. This "blind eye" is turned wherever we need to pick up seats. Look at some of the conservaDems from red states who we happily accept into the fold- so "our team" can get an edge...but who don't necessarily back us up when we need it.

On the third point, everyone was scratching at Obama with that lie to take him down:

My whole life I've been confronted with what are best described as nonsensical situations, where there is a clear and effective path...which is mysteriously not being taken. The older I get, when I see situations like that, the less I tend to think "Why is nobody running with this great idea?!?!" and the more I wonder about how the participants, themselves, helping to promote (if only in some technical sense) the abysmal situation itself.

PB

[bigtree]

3. oh man

. . . sounds like the Alabama story today where the majority of republicans disbelieve evolution and question the President's religion.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. I missed that....where was it?

It came up today because tomorrow is our Primary.

[Stuckinthebush]

48. Public Policy Polling - Read it and weep

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_SouthernSwing_312.pdf

We live in one of the most backward, moronic states in the nation. Ugh.

[bluestate10]

57. In my best Don Corleone voice. What are you weeping about? Stand up and fight.

You will win the day. Florida is a blue-pink state. North Carolina seems to be headed in the same direction. Saner people are growing up or migrating to your state. Pile up the sandbags, stack the peanut butter and keep fighting, the calvary is fighting it's way in to join you and push back the crushing ignorance that you fight each day.

[Stuckinthebush]

60. Oh, sir...

We have fought, and fought and fought.

Sometimes it is best to know when the war is lost. Alabama, my friend, is a lost cause. We will continue to fight in the blue islands but the state as a whole is a lost cause.

[Rod Mollise]

78. Rubbish

Alabama is not a lost cause. Deciding it is just gives it to the Republicans gratis.

[Stuckinthebush]

83. I've been fighting for years

I have been part of the Alabama Democratic Party inside and outside. I have seen the shift and how it was accomplished. We have blue pockets in the State but those are diminishing. The Alabama GOP has been masterful in restricting who votes and, as a result, even those blue pockets are getting smaller and smaller.

I have seen Democratic candidates become de facto Republicans to win. I have worked with campaigns in identifying likely voters in the counties and congressional districts. Over the years the Dem numbers are shrinking - especially as redistricting has shifted lines to dilute the Democratic vote.

Can I say that Alabama is forever Republican? No, of course not. But it will be a very long time before it becomes a swing state - much less a blue state.

I was talking to an old colleague the other day who is a grizzled veteran of Democratic campaigns as a strategist. She even said, "What's the point? Let's focus on local races and judicial races and not even think about state-wide or federal."

I voted this morning at 9 am. I was the first Democrat to vote and I am in one of those swing islands in the state.

Just tired...so tired.

[qazplm]

5. aint just mississippi

try to be a multiracial (black and white) guy dating in and around St. Louis. 90 percent of the profiles are of caucasian women (whom I have zero problem dating) and 90 percent of those say they date caucasian men only. Interestingly, most of the hispanic and all of the asian profiles say caucasian men only.

Attorney, military officer, no kids, and I might as well be nonexistent and primarily based on these profiles because of an aversion to interracial dating.

[Marrah_G]

11. I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around such ignorance

I could care less what race a person is when I consider dating. Stability, personality, compatibility, etc are the things that matter. There are religions I would probably not date because they are incompatible with my own, but race?

I'm sorry that you have to deal with such ignorance.

[shanti]

44. you would definitely

not have this problem in california - guaranteed!

[Kalidurga]

6. If they want out of the Union...

I say let them and have them pay their own bills too.

[gopiscrap]

14. I would love the south to seceed

If KS, TX, AR, LA, KY, TN, MS, AL, GA, FL, and SC were out the Dems would win everytime and not only that, they would be a lot more progressive also...good riddance!!!!!

[RZM]

18. Kansas is in the south now?

Why just Kansas? It's odd you want them out, but you want to keep Nebraska.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

79. In terms of evolution vs. creationism, racism, sexism, yes.

[cordelia]

23. What about WV, VA, and NC?

Don't you want them to seceed (sic), too?

[trof]

50. First, learn to spell 'secede'. And KY wasn't part of the CSA.

Kentucky, being a border state, was among the chief places where the "Brother against brother" scenario was prevalent. Kentucky was officially neutral at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union for assistance, and thereafter became solidly under Union control.

While you're at it, get rid on Kansas and Ohio.

[Fawke Em]

68. Thanks for condemning all of us Southern Democrats.

1. No. We don't want to move. This is our HOME.
2. No. The entire state - any of these states - are not this backward. The poll was of GOP voters - no Dems and Independents.
3. If you want the South to change, stop yer bitchin' and get your ass down here to help educate voters. It's hard to change minds when all many of these people are exposed to is Fox and Rush - although the latter may not be around much longer.

[CTyankee]

73. Or, if you are there (in the South), leave and come north. I did just that.

I left a segregated life at age 18 to go north to college. I never returned to live there. I married right out of college. I knew it wasn't for me any more. My family was disapproving "all your people are southern people" I was told.

Too bad. I was gone. And I've never gone back to live there. It's that simple. Yes, I was considered some kind of a traitor but I didn't really care. I knew it wasn't a crime to move to a different part of the country.

[Fawke Em]

95. See No. 1 of my post.

1. No. We don't want to move. This is our HOME.


I don't want to live up North. I like my beautiful East Tennessee with it's Smoky Mountains, mild winters and gazillion lakes.

I don't consider you a criminal for moving, but don't think of me as an idiot for staying.

[CTyankee]

96. Why on earth would I do that? My moving north doesn't make anyone an idiot for wanting to

stay where they are. In fact, as a liberal you are braver than I. It's easy for me to be a liberal in New Haven.

I confess that I know little about Tennessee, except that it's broad east-west configuration is fascinating to me. My step kids grew up in Nashville, in a Jewish community that is very liberal and some of the nicest people I have ever met.

You have a tougher fight than I have, but you have contentment in the beauty of your part of the state. I wish you all the luck in the world.

[ingac70]

97. If it weren't for my family I'd move.

I absolutely hate it down here.

[fascisthunter]

7. bigotry is still entrenched in parts of the south

We have bigotry up here too, but not as much as in the south. Over time, this bigotry will dwindle, I believe. The good people who are not bigots will lead by example and over time all people will evolve to accept one another.

[CTyankee]

45. I used to believe this, but no more. I have seen, if anything, racism re-emphasized!

I think the "good people" are being fed a bunch of misinformation. They can't evolve if their information is false!

[awoke_in_2003]

54. Yep, racism has not been reduced in the south...

it is just a bit more hidden now.

[Marrah_G]

8. the GOP should be shamed by this

But instead they will just continue pandering to racists.

[cyberswede]

16. I agree. nt

[arely staircase]

9. slavery didn't cause the civil war, it was about state's rights - i hear that all the time

i am quick to point out to whoever says it that the specific right was that of slaveowners to take their slaves into the western territories. they also like to point out that lincoln didn't invade the south to free slaves but to preserve the union. this is true, but again only half the story, the south started the war in an attempt to leave the union because they knew they were losing the political power in congress needed to maintain their "right" to take slaves into western territories.

but that "slavery didn't cause the war" nonsense is very common among white southern conservatives. wjite liberals, blacks and hispanics know better.

edited to say: i m surprised by the marriage views. i really am, i would not have expected that high a number even among such an iliberal group as the mississippi gop. wow

[qazplm]

13. just tell them they are right, it was about state's rights

the state's right to own slaves.

[Mariana]

81. They should read those states' Declarations of Secession

Those documents make it perfectly clear that they seceded for the purpose of continuing slavery.

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. Honestly? That says more about Mississippi than it says about the Republican party.

Mississippi is a scary place in quite a lot of ways.

And it's also not surprising that 40% of Southerners sympathise more with the Confederacy than the Union; the South was militarily conquered, invaded, and occupied. That sort of thing leaves deep resentment that lasts for generations. I'm really surprised that people have such a hard time wrapping their heads around this; the South is a culturally distinct area, after all, and part of its history is defined by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Ask the Irish if they're over the Battle of the Boyne. Ask the Quebecois if they've gotten over the French defeat on the Plains of Abraham in 1763. Hell, ask the Welsh if they've gotten over Edward I's conquest of Wales in the 13th century (the answer is no, a lot of them haven't, really). The fact that the South was wrong doesn't change the fact that no, some number of Southerners really aren't over the Civil War and telling them to get over it won't do much good at all. That may be regrettable and unfortunate but it's nonetheless a fact.

[NOLALady]

20. You are so right.

You really can't tell them to get over the Civil War. They can't hear it.

Yet, they will scream loud and long about how blacks need to get over Jim Crow and his nasty Uncle Slavery.

[jwirr]

34. Very good summary and you for got the Scots.

[iemitsu]

52. germans got over it.

[CTyankee]

74. germany got the sh*t kicked out of it.

It was "change or die." They had the sense to change.

I guess the South didn't get that memo. Many of them DID get the sh*t kicked out of them. I don't know why more didn't just leave, seeking greener pastures. I did. Been happy ever since.

[Spider Jerusalem]

93. Germany didn't become East France or West Russia, either.

Not really a comparison.

[NoGOPZone]

86. Scalia likes telling people to get over things

Maybe he should try this line with Mississippi Republicans

[frogmarch]

12. It's not shocking to me.

Mississippi may be more racist than other states, but there's a lot of racism here in Nebraska too, including within my husband's family. We have nothing to do with them. Our allegiance goes to our kids and their "rainbow" families - to our daughters-in-law and our biracial and multiracial grandchildren and adoptive African American grandson.

I'd post a video of "Here's to the State of Mississippi" but I'm pretty sure my post would be alerted on.

I despise racists of all skin colors.

[Rozlee]

36. Same here.

My mom, a Mexican national, had my half siblings by a Cajun. I married a German national and one of my daughters married a Haitian. My husband's late wife was from Okinawa. My children, step-children and grandchildren are so beautiful that it takes my breath away. No bias here.

[saras]

15. They live in fucking MISSISSIPPI - half of them are ALREADY products of mixed relationships...

[Generic Other]

67. Incest don't count

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Mr Dixon]

17. SMH

No real surprise here

[NOLALady]

19. As Nina would say

Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam

[TrollBuster9090]

21. *Ahem* Maybe some reporters should be asking the GOP candidates for their stance on these issues?

I'm sure Mitt, Rick, Newt and Uncle Ron would LOVE to share their views on interracial marriage and the nature of the Civil War.

I thought Democrats were supposed to be having fun with their new toy this year. WEDGE ISSUES. Well, Democratic wedge issues don't have to be confined to women's rights, which modern Republicans clearly oppose.

There's also:
-Interracial marriage
-The cuases of the civil war
-Civil rights and the civil rights and voting acts of LBJ
-The right/appropriateness of Dixie state to fly the Confederate Flag above their capitol buildings

The Confederate flag issue is a big one, given that almost all of the Dixie governors, and many of the Dixie senators have come down in favor of this good ole' "States Rights" issue.

And it's not much of a pivot to go from States Rights and Jim Crowe laws to VOTER ID LAWS, which are basically the same thing.

DNC people, what the hell are you waiting for?

[NICO9000]

58. If they did, their silence would be deafening

This is really fucked-up. It's 2012 fer crissakes! These people are so blinded by their hate, they don't care one bit how this looks to the modern world.

[workinclasszero]

24. Wow! This is what republicans mean when they say they want their country back!

Racist ignorant haters! I just read a poll on huffington....

Obama's Religion Still A Campaign Issue: Many Alabama, Mississippi Voters Believe President Is Muslim

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/obama-religion-mississippi-alabama_n_1338990.html

These teabaggers are a damn menace to this country and God forbid what they would do if they ever get power again!

[drm604]

25. I can't say I'm surprised by this.

I'd hate to see the results off a poll on interracial marriage in the northern states also. It wouldn't be this bad, but it'd be bad enough.

[uponit7771]

26. omg, I laughed slightly.....sigh, this is sad...I thought it wasn't real

[Cal33]

27. I sometimes wonder what might have happened if there had never been a civil war, and

the South had seceded.

My guess: In time world opinion alone, among other things, would have convinced them to abolish slavery. They would have looked so backward as long as they allowed it to continue. There wasn't any other moral choice.

The important thing is that they would have stopped slavery on their own. It wouldn't have been forced down their throats. Their pride wouldn't have been hurt. They are still suffering
from hurt pride today, a century and a half later.

So there would have been two separate countries, or perhaps they might even have rejoined
the Union? The bitterness wouldn't have been there, and quite possibly racism in general would have been less than it is today.

Just musings of mine. What do you think?

[JHB]

30. Or they might have gotten rid of it formally, but entrench an apartheid state

A number of possibilities, and none of them good if you were black.

[Cal33]

32. True, and in which case, I suppose many more blacks would have left such a country.

[Fawke Em]

69. That still happened.

Black people did not have many rights - in the South AND in parts of the mid-Southwest - until the Civil Rights marches in the 1960s - fully 100 years after the Civil War.

[JHB]

75. Yes, but the implication of the post I was responding to...

...was that without the bitterness at the loss of the war, that might not have happened. My point was that it was not necessarily so, and IMO unlikely.

[NOLALady]

38. Greed.

I don't believe the 1% of that time period would have given up free labor on their own. World opinion does not matter to the greedy, wealthy and powerful.

Runaway slaves and the constant threat of revolts may have convinced them to abolish slavery in time, but I doubt if they cared about world opinion. The 1% who are running the planet today don't give a crap about world opinion. The greedy 1% will not give up power. It probably will have to be forced down their throats.

Bitterness because of hurt pride? That's not how I see it. I see bitterness because of the loss of free labor on one hand. On the other hand, I see bitterness because they lost scapegoats to blame for their problems.

[Art_from_Ark]

55. I think they would have cared about world opinion

when it came to their one main export-- cotton, which was produced primarily by slaves. If the world doesn't buy your one main export, your economy is going to suffer. The problem of slavery was one reason why the British, who had abolished slavery in the 1830s, ended up putting a lot of effort into growing cotton in India.

[TheKentuckian]

51. I tend to think they got off too damn easy. More hangings for treason and dispossesions

along with being placed under some black governors and their women being encouraged to mate with blacks would have been a start, along with no Jim Crow being permitted under pain of another round of crops and homes burnt and being put to the sword.

Stopping the slavery "on their own" to avoid their pride being hurt is a nothing, sell it to the slaves. As one of their decendents, I'm offended at the logic but I'm not ideologically inclined toward appeasement of devils or fuckwits either.

[hifiguy]

84. Agreed.

After WWII the Germans and Japanese were forced, at times at gunpoint, to confront the consequences of their actions and their utter defeat. One will note that Germany and Japan have been responsible world citizens ever since. Lincoln's approach to the Confederacy was far, far too conciliatory, and even the Radical Reconstructionists didn't take things as far as they should have.

[Rita Rabbit]

91. Nasty

Wow, a nasty communist wants to punish White people. Big surprise. Why don't you slither back under the rock you live under.

Karl Marx never worked a day in his life, leaving his wife and children in abject poverty while he told the rest of us how things are supposed to be.

If communism is so great, how come the workers of the world never united? If communism is so great, how come you have to put walls around communist nations to keep people from escaping? While I don't advocate slavery, even the African slaves often wanted to stay with their owners even after being set free.

Lincoln (a Republican, by the way) wanted to send the free slaves to Africa. That would have made much more sense.

[hifiguy]

92. Enjoy your stay at DU

It will be brief.

Alerted.

[hifiguy]

94. And it was.

TS'd after one post. A new DU record, I think.

[Mariana]

82. It might have taken a long, long time

for them to do away with slavery. In 1861, there was no end in sight. The price of slaves was at an all-time high and still increasing. Slavery was extremely profitable and likely would have remained so for many years. And the whole culture was built around perpetuating it, with the churches, the schools, and the law all reinforcing the idea that slavery was right and good.

[AverageJoe90]

29. And this is surprising, how, exactly? (But then again, something else should be said as well)

The truth is, the South has always had its fair share of racist malcontents........However, it should also be pointed out that not all Southerners are racist, either; William Faulkner & Harper Lee would be a couple of great examples of Southern people who weren't really bigoted at all(quite the opposite in fact!).

So, again, no surprises here, since that part of the country has had more problems with racism than anywhere else. At the same time, let's not allow stereotypes to cloud our judgement, either.

[Bluenorthwest]

41. If you don't mind, Ms Harper Lee gets the present tense.

She's still with us.

[AverageJoe90]

87. My apologies. nt =)

[jwirr]

31. Wonder if there was any attempt in the survey to distinguish between black/white marriages and

other interracial marriages. I am part of a family that has spouses who are Hispanic, Black and Native American. In my opinion the only problems with these marriages is the damned people who object to them.

[Iliyah]

33. Tripple whamy

Pres O - black/white, this alone is pissing off the racists, birth ceritifcate and Muslim are the toppings.

[DCBob]

37. Those same people also want to refight the Civil War.

moronic ignorant clueless idiots... fk em.

[just1voice]

40. Imagine that, lifelong idiot pukes with a screwed-up belief system

whom have some screwed up belief. The pukes likely believe in much more delusional things as part of being mentally disturbed people. Having an (R) next to a name should be reason enough for a medical intervention and a psychiatric exam -- I'm not kidding.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

42. How these Tea Party types can read the Constitution

and not understand a word of it, is beyond me.

[NICO9000]

59. They have an interesting perspective on Jesus too

[nolabear]

43. I swear to God, I find this hard to believe.

I am NOT being an apologist for the South. I am from the South and return there regularly to visit. My family had, and has, some attitudes I find seriously racist. But I don't know anyone who thinks interracial marriage should be illegal. Heck, I knew many Air Force men who married Asian women, and many Anglo-Mexican families even when I was a kid. Marriages between black and white people was, and often is, really looked down on but it's been a very long time since I have heard anyone but the most hard core white supremacists say it should be illegal, and even they don't tend to think that way--they're more likely to shun or intimidate personally than want the government involved.

So this one floors me. And just a point I don't understand, the article seems to use GOP and Tea Party interchangeably. I'd like to know who they're talking to.

[provis99]

46. morons. Sarah Palin is IN an interracial marriage.

Todd has Eskimo ancestry. Reminds me of the idiot South Carolinans who are opposed to interracial marriage, yet support Gov. Nikki Haley, a Sikh in an interracial marriage with a white man.

[elehhhhna]

47. and THIS is why our government has Reps and Senators.

They're SUPPOSED to be our brightest, best thinkers, and they're there to protect us form ourselves and the potential tyranny of absolute majority rule.

except that we have elected a bunch of fuckheads.

[ProSense]

49. Someone should

tell them this is 2012

[Gore1FL]

53. And this was from before the culture war...

Imagine how bad the numbers would be this year.

[bluestate10]

56. The good news is that 60% of southerners don't long for the Confederacy.

There is hope afterall.

[Initech]

61. Is this... what... year is this?

[Odin2005]

62. I'm speechless.

[Dont call me Shirley]

63. Mississippi Gop bigots: GROW UP!

[gulliver]

64. In a way, other states should be thanking Mississippi.

Mississippi has a lot of bright, good-natured people. I've met some. The "thin crisp biscuits" just serve to scare the good people and better paying jobs to other states.

[provis99]

98. surely you've heard the expression "Thank God for Mississippi"

it's common in the South, particularly in Arkansas.

[Canuckistanian]

65. Ok, then

That explains the whole attack on women thing.

They've only progressed as far as the late 60's. And It looks as if they're digging their heels in.

Where are my old Perry Como records, anyways?

[julian09]

66. They like marring into family

[limpyhobbler]

70. I won't be vacationing there.

I don't feel welcome there really. I wonder how this compares to the feelings of gop voters in New York or Minnesota? Guessing it would be quite different.

[tabbycat31]

90. the GOP voters of NJ are pretty bad too

There's a town near me that is GOP controlled (Dems regularly lose 3-1 despite putting up a fight) which has an active KKK chapter.

[spanone]

71. no excuse for their ignorance

[lonestarnot]

72. "Almost half of Mississippi Republican voters polled" are racist motherfuckers.

[Raine]

76. They need to go back under those rocks they crawled out from

and stay there, they make me.

[Blue_Roses]

77. Almost half

of Republicans...hell, I would've thought that figure would be close to 100%.This is the southern GOP--who are stuck in a time warp.

Fortunately, the progressives and Dems feel differently.

[Bosso 63]

80. How can someone go to Walmart week after week, and still believe white people are "superior"?

You'd think that these ideas would die out for the simple fact it takes a certain level of intellectual capacity to just spawn the next generation, (tab A goes into slot B), but apparently they can.

I blame evolution.

[agentS]

85. Well, that's Mississippi Republicans for ya!

Recently the rest of the state did vote down the Personhood amendment that would have banned condoms and other stuff, so the whole state isn't helpless and braindead. Just the Repubs...

[slackmaster]

88. My training in psychology and statistics makes me question how many understood the question

A lot of dramatic-looking survey results turn out to be meaningless when you test for validity.

[potone]

89. Racism serves a purpose.

If you are white and don't have anything else--no money, education, power or prospects for a better life for yourself or your family you can always take refuge psychologically in the thought that at least you are superior to black people. That is how the corrupt white elite have manipulated poor white people into supporting them against their own best interests. The majority of white people in the South have far more in common in terms of economic self-interest with black people than with the ruling class. This is something that Bill Clinton understood. I wish other Democratic politicians would argue that case openly and passionately. It is long past time for the South to join the movement for greater equality for everyone (which is not to say that the North has done such a great job of it; hence the Occupy movement).