New Study Claims That Obama Foes Are Not Motivated by Racism
by Latoya Peterson
From the Politico:
Racism is not a factor driving conservative opposition to President Barack Obama, according to the results of focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps, a Democratic organization, released on Friday. [...]
Rather than attributing their dislike of Obama to race, participants in the focus groups, which were a project of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, said that their disaffection was borne out of a sense that the president was orchestrating an effort to steer the country away from its “founding principles.”
“They want him to fail,” said pollster Stan Greenberg. “It’s not just a political motivation, it’s an ethical imperative given what they think Obama’s goals are.”
The research team held focus groups from Sept. 29-30 with conservative voters in suburban Atlanta and another set of meetings with conservative-leaning independents in the Cleveland area. The Atlanta groups consisted of older white, self-identified conservatives who voted for both John McCain and a Republican Congressional candidate. The Cleveland groups included older white swing voters — half of whom voted for Obama and half of whom supported McCain in 2008. In the two places, researchers found vastly different results.
Now, y’all know I’m skeptical. I truly believe a lot of people may find Obama’s actions to be contrary to their beliefs, and to see him as a symbol of a country gone mad. I don’t think you have to be a racist to believe that – you just have to believe in things like ending Roe vs. Wade or an embrace of small government principles, or you think you’d benefit from a plutocracy. There are lots of reasons – that have absolutely nothing to do with racism - not to like Obama.
But here’s why I think the study was doomed before it began – no one self-identifies as a racist. Not even racists! They have different terms that they like to use*, or they use the popular phrase “I’m not racist, but…”
I think it is very difficult to measure racism unless you are asking detailed questions about attitudes and beliefs. Asking a straight question like “Are your views on Obama influenced by his race?” is a big gimmie. The study appears to try to compensate for this, noting in the full memo of results:
Race: Get Over It
In the wake of Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during the president’s joint session health care address and other strident personal and political attacks against President Obama, many in the media and Democratic circles advanced an explanation that this virulent opposition is rooted in racism and reactions to President Obama as an African American president. With this possibility in mind, we allowed for extended open-ended discussion on Obama (including visuals of him speaking) among voters – older, non-college, white, and conservative – who were most race conscious and score highest on scales measuring racial prejudice. Race was barely raised, certainly not what was bothering them about President Obama.
In fact, some of these voters talked about feeling some pride at his election.
They were conscious of the charge that opposition to Obama is racially motivated and that bothered conservative Republicans and independents alike. They basically could not let it go and returned to this issue again and again throughout our conversations across myriad topics.
You can’t openly criticize Obama. If you do, you’ll be labeled as a racist.
Whatever we say about Obama, no matter what we say about him, it is a racial comment so you know, we can’t say anything, we personally do not like him. I don’t care if he is purple, but whatever we say we’re racist.
As far as a person goes, I don’t want to say I hate him. I don’t like what he stands for… and I don’t like what he is doing and the choices he is making, but I mean I don’t know him as a gentleman so… You would be called a racist. You would not like him because he is black. That is what the media is saying.
Page 1 of 3 | Next page