From America’s most accurate pollster, Scott Rasmussen:
Just 60% of U.S. voters now say that American society is generally fair and decent, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
That’s down nine points since late August and the lowest measure since President Obama took office in January, fueled in large part by growing unhappiness among African-American voters.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of all voters say U.S. society is basically unfair and discriminatory, up six points from late August and the highest level measured since December.
Only 14% of African-Americans now feel society is fair and decent. That number has dropped 41 points from 55% a month after Obama took office. Sixty-six percent (66%) of black voters think society is unfair and discriminatory, up 26 points since early February.
The majority of white voters (65%) say society is fair and decent. Seventy-two percent (72%) of all other voters agree.
It’s interesting that Latinos and Asians evidently have a higher opinion of the decency of American society than whites. But the main point here, obviously, is the dramatic shift among African-Americans. What could have caused it?
The only possible answer is that many Americans have opposed President Obama’s policies. But why would that cause African-Americans to think that our society is “discriminatory” rather than “decent”? No mystery there: in a well-coordinated campaign, the Democratic Party has relentlessly portrayed all disagreement with the Obama administration’s policies as “racist.” That contemptible and divisive tactic had seemed to produce no results, but we now see that it had one consequence: alienating African-Americans from their country.
Some “post-racial President.”
As I noted a week or so ago, drawing on a post by Cornell law professor William Jacobson, and as I touched on again a few days ago, using the accusation of racism to demonize anyone who dares disagree with the President’s agenda is a toxic tactic that will only sicken this nation. I think Rasmussen’s polling is picking up the first symptoms of that illness.
Another possibility is that the higher numbers from African-Americans after the election of Obama were a sign of high expectations of change, rather than of current reality. When change did not happen right away, they became disillusioned.
Good point, and I'm sure that's part of it too; certainly the Obama campaign succeeded in part by raising some incredibly high expectations, so a disillusionment "correction" was bound to happen. Thanks for pointing that out.