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 SidesReihan Salam and Razib Khan offer further comment.

Comments

Comments for this post are closed