According to a new report, just over half of Americans believe President Donald Trump is racist.
The national poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, comes after Trump made a number of controversial comments directed at congresswomen who are critical of his policies. Trump tweeted comments suggesting they ‘go back’ to the ‘totally broken’ countries they’re from, even though three out of four of them were born in the US.
Though he didn’t mention anyone by name, the president’s comments are believed to be referring to a group of congresswomen known as ‘the Squad’ – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
He has a tendency to use the words ‘infested’ or ‘infestation’ when talking about people of colour, as Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore found out this past weekend.
The Quinnipiac University National Poll revealed 51 per cent of voters believe Trump is racist. Broken down into categories – 46 per cent of white voters say Trump is racist, as do 80 per cent of black voters and 55 per cent of Hispanic voters.
Fifty-five per cent of men said Trump is not racist, while 59 per cent of women said he is. However, 49 per cent of voters said Trump’s immigration policies were motivated by ‘a sincere interest in controlling our borders’, while 41 percent say his immigration policies are motivated by ‘racist beliefs’.
Sixty per cent of those polled believe Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings against the president, though 61 per cent of Democrats polled would be in favour of it, as well as 66 per cent of black voters.
Mary Snow, polling analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll, said:
While half of voters think President Donald Trump is racist, religion shows an even bigger divide. Only 21 percent of white Evangelicals believe the President is racist. Compare that to 63 percent of voters who don’t affiliate with any organized religion.
The poll also asked voters about their opinion on the Mueller report, and revealed 52 per cent of people believe Trump tried to ‘derail or obstruct’ the investigation into his 2016 election. While 56 per cent believe the report did not clear the president of any wrongdoing.
In addition, 71 per cent of American voters polled are ‘very concerned’ or ‘somewhat concerned’ about a foreign government interfering in the 2020 elections.
Snow added:
When it comes to the Mueller hearings, minds were not changed on impeachment or that President Trump was cleared of wrongdoing.
One thing is clear: there is near unanimous support for requiring political campaigns to report any information they receive from foreign governments to the FBI.
The poll revealed 59 per cent of voters say Congress should pass laws to protect the 2020 elections from foreign interference, while 87 per cent believe political campaigns should report any information they receive from foreign governments to the FBI.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.