I have no doubt that this article will certainly spark more than a few argumentative comments, but it’s a serious matter and a very serious question, just how many racists are there in the U.S.A?
Personally, I wouldn’t have a clue. My guess would be just as good as yours, but a writer at Vice sought a definitive answer to the question, and asked a political scientist if he had any idea.
This November the world will be borne onto change – whether for good or for bad – when Trump or Clinton becomes the next President of the United States.
In the endless campaign for presidency a lot of pretty radical statements have been made, however one which caused a Herculean shitstorm was made by Hillary when she said that half of all Trump supports should be in ‘a basket of deplorables’ before adding, ‘The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up’.
Now think what you want about Hillary or Trump, it’s not my job to convince you who to support, but that’s a pretty provocative statement… However, is it true?
Well according to Jason McDaniel, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, Hillary wasn’t all that far wrong.
He said:
I do think that based on the analysis I’ve done and based on some analysis more recently, there’s no doubt that Trump supporters are more motivated by racially resentful views and negative racial views than Hillary Clinton supporters or [supporters of] previous Republican candidates.
The people that supported Donald Trump, their views on negative racial stereotypes towards blacks, and negative views of Muslims, and negative views of immigrants was just off the charts. That’s a new thing this election cycle.
And you’ll be pleased to hear that Jason isn’t just making preposterous estimates – as he’s recently finished a study into the correlation between racism and support for Trump.
He went onto explain that it’s relatively hard to find a racist – not many people in the world are willing to just come out of their shell and say ‘yep, I’m a racist. That’s me’, so to define a racist is quite a ‘science and an art’.
But by using carefully worded questions, Jason thinks he knows the perfect formula.
By asking things such as: ‘How much discrimination is there in the United States today against blacks? A great deal, a lot, a moderate amount, a little, or none at all?’, Jason believes he can emit the perfect response from an interviewee and determine their ‘racist level’.
All in all, Jason concluded the interview by saying that although there is no definitive figure, he believes that there are just as many racists in America right now, as there where prior to the civil rights movement – however, Jason warned that America is on the ’emergence of something that’s scary and that we should be worried about’.
So while there aren’t more racists in America than there was back in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s etc, it’s still mind-numbing to think that, according to Jason’s study, there are just as many racists in this day and age – the so called modern world…
