December 3, 2013

Is Opposition to Obama Racist?

By Richard Winchester
The latest public opinion polls show that, not only is approval of Barack Obama's job performance declining, larger percentages of the public doubt his honesty. As Thomas Lifson notes, "it is clear that Obama is underwater, and that a public reassessment of him is well underway." Does that mean racism is staging a comeback? From the time Obama emerged on the national scene till now, a meme of his backers has been that racism is a -- maybe the (!) -- major reason why people disapprove of him and his policies. Oprah Winfrey's assertion that Obama is disrespected because of race is the most recent illustration of this mindset. Before dismissing this as hogwash, we need to look at public opinion polls on the matter. Let us begin with a bit of historical context. White Americans' racial attitudes have changed tremendously since the end of World War II. A Rasmussen Reports poll in late August, 2013 found that nearly 70% of likely voters believe race relations have improved in the U.S....(Read Full Article)