Racism by Political Party
It is undeniably the case that racist Americans are almost entirely in one political coalition and not the other.
Chris Hayes, Up w/ Chris Hayes, August 18, 2012.
Here is data asking whites the question Do you Favor Laws Against Interracial Marriage (this is from 2002, the latest year available for this question).
| Favor Laws Against Interracial Marriage | |||||
| Democrat | Ind | Repub | Other | TOTAL | |
| YES | 11.9 | 9.6 | 11.5 | 5 | 10.8 |
| NO | 88.1 | 90.4 | 88.5 | 95 | 89.2 |
Here is data asking whites whether they agree with the sentiment that Blacks Shouldn’t be Pushy.
| Blacks Shouldn’t Be Pushy | |||
| Democrat | Ind | Republican | |
| AGREE STRONGLY | 14.9 | 14.2 | 15.8 |
| AGREE SLIGHTLY | 20.4 | 20.6 | 26.6 |
| DISAGREE SLIGHTLY | 30.2 | 28 | 25.9 |
| DISAGREE STRONGLY | 34.5 | 37.2 | 31.7 |
Finally from 2008 here is data asking whites whether they would vote for a black for President. (Row: racpres, column partyid, filter: race(1) year(2008)).
| Would Vote for Black President | |||||
| STRONG DEMOCRAT | NOT STR DEMOCRAT | NOT STR REPUBLICAN | STRONG REPUBLICAN | ||
| YES | 92.4 | 94 | 93.9 | 94.7 | |
| No | 7.6 | 6 | 6.1 | 5.3 | |
It is true that there are more differences across party lines on policy questions such as on affirmative action, again with a mix in both parties but with more Republicans than Democrats opposing. I don’t consider these types of policy preferences to be grounds for calling someone a racist, however.
It is undeniable that some Americans are racist but racists split about evenly across the parties. No party has a monopoly on racists.
Addendum: John Sides, Reihan Salam and Razib Khan offer further comment.