One-half of white Americans would vote for Trump if the election were held today. Let that sink in. Roughly 50 percent of white voters would vote to re-elect Republican President Donald Trump if the election were held today, according to a new poll by Hill-Harris X.
Even though his ignorance and corruption are evident every day, they stick with him.
Even though tens of thousands of Americans have died from COVID-19 because of his actions, or inactions, they stick with him.
Even though Trump lies as readily as he talks, averaging nearly 15 lies a day, whites stick with him.
Even though he — whether intentionally or not — is doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin and ruining relationships with our allies, they are sticking with him.
Even though many whites are in the streets participating in Black Lives Matter protests and voicing opposition to Trump’s racist actions, the majority of whites are sticking with him.
Even though he is the king of lies, they stick with him. According to Michael Gerson, Trump is “a bold, intentional liar, by any moral definition. A habitual liar. A blatant liar. An instinctual liar. A reckless liar. An ignorant liar. A pathological liar. A hopeless liar. A gratuitous liar. A malevolent liar.”
Or maybe they stick with him because he lies. I agree with Gerson that Trump’s lies purposely and effectively disconnect a portion of the public from political reality.
I have been complaining that the news media emphasize the wrong things in their reporting of the polls. They go on and on about Biden beating Trump in the polls — by single digits nevertheless — while I think the story is that Biden is only leading by single digits. And that is because so many whites are sticking with Trump.
In the Hill-Harris X poll, Trump led Biden among male voters 45 to 43 percent, Midwest voters 42 to 39 percent, independent voters 35 to 33 percent, voters earning above $75,000 a year by 48 to 39 percent and voters aged 35 to 49 by a margin of 44 to 37 percent.
That, to me, is the real story, when the object of their affection is so clinically flawed.
On the other hand, maybe I should lighten up since whites always vote for Republican presidential candidates. Since the regular use of exit polling in 1972, we know the results of presidential voting by race.
In the 12 presidential elections since 1972, the majority of whites — sometimes by extensive margins — have voted for the Republican candidate. This is the case even in the four elections that the Democratic candidate won.
Nixon, of course, won the majority of white votes in his 1968 landslide victory. LBJ’s landslide victory over Goldwater in 1964 was the last time the Democratic candidate won a majority of the white vote.
However, by my calculations, this shift did not start with Southern Democrats becoming Republicans after the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A majority of whites voted for the Republican presidential candidate in each election between 1948 and 1960, and this occurred when there were liberals in the Republican party.
Thus, in only one presidential election since World War II, 1964, has the Democratic candidate won the majority of the white votes.
Regardless of the reason, white voters are sticking with the Republican presidential candidate. And Trump seems to be counting on it.
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Wornie Reed is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies and Director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech University. Previously he developed and directed the Urban Child Research Center in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University (1991-2001), where he was also Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies (1991-2004). He was Adjunct Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (2003-4). Professor Reed served a three-year term (1990-92) as President of the National Congress of Black Faculty, and he is past president of the national Association of Black Sociologists (2000-01).
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