News/Commentary

Trump voters poll says racism directed toward Whites, not Blacks is the bigger problem today

July 24, 2023 | | Print Article

More than 50 years after the Civil Rights movement, racism is still a hot-button issue in America, but a new poll shows that Republicans — and, more specifically, Trump supporters — believe that racism directed toward whites is a bigger problem today than anti-black racism.

With the rise of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) scores and the intrusion of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) training in nearly every facet of corporate America, the sentiment among conservatives shouldn’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention the past few years. Under President Biden’s administration, critics of “woke” policies have been labeled as “White Supremacists” and “domestic terrorists” by our nation’s leaders — a divisive message that many would argue encourages hatred, discrimination, and even violence toward white people in general. And, as inflation pressures already-strained households across the country, liberal-led states are pushing exorbitant “reparations” for those with black skin.

As a predictable result, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll reveals that “among 2020 Trump voters, 62% say that racism against Black Americans is a problem today — while 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem.”

It is interesting to note that the survey itself, which consisted of 1,638 U.S. adults and was conducted from July 13-17, subtly fosters those feelings of inequality. In presenting the results, Yahoo News/YouGov capitalizes “Blacks” but uses a small “w” to refer to White Americans.

Style guides aside, when asked “how much of a problem racism currently is, just 19% of Trump voters describe racism against Black Americans as a ‘big problem.’ Twice as many (37%) say racism against white Americans is a big problem.”

Yahoo News continues:

Trump voters and self-identified Republicans — overlapping but not identical cohorts — are the only demographic groups identified by Yahoo News and YouGov who are more likely to say racism against white Americans is a problem than to say the same about racism against Black Americans. A majority (51%) of white Americans, for instance, think racism against people who look like them is a problem — but overall, far more white Americans (72%) say racism against Black Americans is a problem.

 

“Politics, in other words, is the dividing line here — and political dynamics go a long way toward explaining why reparations for Black Americans continue to be so unpopular in the U.S.,” the outlet states.

Yahoo News acknowledges that “public support for reparations for African Americans remains stubbornly low” and points to the “dismissal earlier this month of a lawsuit put forth by the three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre seeking reparations for ongoing harm caused by the racist rampage that destroyed their once-thriving majority-Black community a century ago.”

As previously reported by BizPac Review, the Tulsa tragedy became President Biden’s political football as far back as 2021.

In a June 2021 op-ed, David Limbaugh, brother to the late, great Rush Limbaugh, wrote, “This may shock and amaze you if your blinders are on, but President Biden is not only not a uniter; he is actively trying to divide Americans on race — and other issues — purely for raw political power. There is no other plausible explanation.”

Limbaugh continued:

Since the Obama presidency, leftists have identified white supremacy as rampant and as a major threat to national security. They maintain that white supremacists are legion and are domestic terrorists. In his speech in Tulsa, ostensibly to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the race riots and atrocities against African Americans in that city, Biden underscored this point with the preposterous declaration that white supremacy is the most dangerous threat to America today. Are you kidding me, President Biden? Have you no shame?

That’s not all Biden said in Tulsa to stir the racial pot, making clear that his primary purpose was not to honor the lives and misfortunes of the black victims in Tulsa in 1921. He disgracefully politicized the entire event, using it not for racial reconciliation but racial agitation — and as a platform to vilify his political opponents.

 

While many “supporters saw the Oklahoma suit as a potential blueprint for reparation efforts around the country,” Yahoo News reports, “most U.S. adults oppose reparations for Black Americans.”

According to the survey: “just a quarter of them (24%) say Black Americans should receive “restitution or reparations from the government — not necessarily direct cash payments — as a result of inequities caused by racism and slavery,” while 56% say they should not.”

“Support is only marginally higher (29%) when respondents are asked specifically about reparations for ‘descendants of enslaved Black Americans’ rather than all ‘Black Americans,'” according to Yahoo News. “And even when questioned about reparations for the ‘three remaining survivors of the Tulsa race massacre’ — that is, living people who were directly harmed by racial violence — less than half of Americans are in favor (45%). Most are either opposed (33%) or unsure (22%).”

“To be clear, reparations for Black Americans are not particularly popular across the political spectrum,” the outlet states, adding:

Republicans are opposed 84% to 8%; Independents are opposed 62% to 8%. Democrats favor reparations by a 21-point margin (49% to 28%) — but even that’s not majority support, and much of it is attributable to overwhelmingly pro-reparations sentiment (69% to 11%) among Black Americans themselves, who tend to identify as Democrats.

Among white Americans, meanwhile, just 17% say yes to reparations; 66% say no.

 

Still, Yahoo News states, it is those on the “right-wing” that are the “major outliers.”

Both Biden (93%) and Trump supporters (85%) agree that, in the past, racism against black Americans was a problem.

“The disagreement is over whether it’s still a problem today — or rather, as Trump voters seem to believe, whether it’s less of a problem than racism against white Americans, which reparations, in their view, would only exacerbate,” the outlet reports.

The study suggests that, while Trump voters live in the present, Biden supporters are steadfastly clinging to the country’s troubled past:

When Trump voters are asked why Black Americans shouldn’t receive reparations, the top answer isn’t that “racism never held Black Americans back” (13%); it’s that “racism is no longer holding Black Americans back” (62%). Reparations, they say, would only “increase racial divisions” (57%) because “other Americans have [also] faced inequities because of racism” (60%).

Similarly, Trump voters are the only group (other than Republicans at large) who are more likely than not to say there isn’t any “problem with systemic racism in America” (61%) and to disagree with the idea that “racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies” (55%) — issues that reparations are intended to ameliorate.

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles