Public Policy Polling surveyed 400 usual Mississippi Republican primary voters from March 24th to 27th [2011]. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.
[They asked and were told:]
Do you think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal?
Legal............................................................... 40%
Illegal .............................................................. 46%
Not sure .......................................................... 14%
From here.
Keep in mind that this is not some highly technical question about which ordinary, well socialized, non-racist people would have to contemplate a "not sure" answer. Also, keep in mind that this sample excludes not only Democrats and people with no political affiliation, but also Republicans who are not "usual primary voters." Primary voters typically make up something on the order of half of all voters and tend to be more extreme in their political beliefs than general election voters or politically affiliated non-voters.
As Razib notes, this is not implausible. I agree with Razib that the poll is not as far from expectations as one might think.
Nationally, according to the General Social Survey, about 37% of people favored banning interracial marriage in 1972, a few years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this was not constitutional in Loving v. Virginia. By 2002 the percentage favoring a ban on interracial marriage nationally had dropped to 10%. But, Republicans from the region that includes Mississippi were the strongest supporters of prohibiting interracial marriage.
Presumably, the Republicans who want to ban interracial marriage are also the ones who are birthers, favor secession, think President Obama is a Muslim, are young earth creationists, and generally have beliefs that embarrass everyone else in the country, even serious mainstream Republicans.
Clearly, some subcultures manage to very completely insulate themselves from the overall social and intellectual trends of the nation. The hard questions are how one can break through that bubble, and failing that, how one can reduce their disproportionate political influence.
This does not surprise me. When I visited Birmingham a few years ago, I met a gentleman missing one of his limbs from the 1960's race riots. On the many times I visited Charleston, which is a pedestrian-oriented historical city, African-Americans walking around were always the servants carrying bags of groceries with a defeated look on their faces.
ReplyDeleteThat's why even though I advocate ending things like affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act because we have battled racism to the point where they are counterproductive, I also advocate making an exception for the South and keeping those policies in place there because racism is still strong there.
I imagine 14% of die-hard primary voting R's are dumb enough that they could not figure out the question, perhaps don't know what the word interracial means.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the black Mississippi Republicans??? How can you call the Republicans in Mississippi "Still Racist?" This is a load or bunk...Also, for your information - Blacks are more Racist towards Whites, legal immigrants and Hispanics then anyother ethnic group. Blacks in law enforcement are more apt to do many things outside the oath they took to become a member of law enforcement.
ReplyDelete