Bogus Poll Shows White Prejudice

This is an exchange that occurred on the Black Conservatives Group on Yahoo. The following is information from a poll supposedly showing that Blacks are less prejudiced than Whites. I vigorously refute the poll in the material below (in boldface).


Poll shows gap between blacks and whites over racial discrimination

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the nation's birth, Americans have discussed race and avoided it, organized neighborhoods and political movements around it, and used it to divide and hurt people even as relations have improved dramatically since the days of slavery, Reconstruction and legal segregation.

Now, in what could be a historic year for a black presidential candidate, a new Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between whites and blacks. It shows that a substantial portion of white Americans still harbor negative feelings toward blacks. It shows that blacks and whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence blacks have in politics. One result is that Barack Obama's path to the presidency is steeper than it would be if he were white.

The following is my response to this highly suspect "poll"


This poll (by Stanford and the AP) is mainly bogus. What matters most is not racial attitudes, an extremely complex subject, but rather behavior. What people do is much more important than what they say in response to vague poll questions. The good people at Stanford and the AP ignore that important distinction.

For example, right now, it appears that as many as 90% of Blacks are going to vote for Barack Obama, at least partly because of the mistaken impression that Obama (who's 50% Caucasian and 40% Arab) is somehow a "Black man."

On the other hand, as perhaps 40% of white voters will also vote for Obama. And somehow this means that it's WHITE people who are deeply prejudiced -- while Blacks are less so?

That makes absolutely no sense, except perhaps to political elitists who start out with preposterous assumptions about our world. If prejudice is so deeply ingrained in white society, why are tens of millions of Caucasians ready to vote for the self-styled Black candidate? Why are so few "unprejudiced" Blacks ready to vote for a white war hero and man notable for his Independent thinking?

In the Stanford poll, somehow two plus two comes up six -- or seven -- and the Associated Press is okay with that.

Be very skeptical when you read polls. When the MSM or left-winger pollsters blow smoke at you, don't pretend it's lavender scent.

In my own state of PA in 2006, a Black man, Lynn Swann, ran for Governor as a Republican. He got nearly 50% of the white vote, but he lost badly in the Black community. Something similar happened to Black Republican Ken Blackwell in Ohio -- and Black Republican Michael Steele in Maryland

There may have been prejudices of various kinds in those elections, but it was not primarily demonstrated by Caucasians. I voted for Lynn Swann and so did my wife and daughter.

What's the difference between a Black thug and a White thug? Nothing.

Feel free to attribute this to me if you use it.

steve maloney
ambridge, pa