North Carolinians aren't biased; just ask 'em

A delicious dispatch from the "I'm perfect, you're not" view-of-the-universe department ...

As a prelude to North Carolina's May 6 Democratic presidential primary, state voters recently were asked about prejudices. As related by the Raleigh News & Observer, here's what the poll found:

* A whoppingly large number -- 91% -- said race would not affect their political decisions -- but 54% said they knew someone who would not cast a ballot for a black.

* A candidate's gender, 79% said, would make no difference to them -- but 63% said they knew someone who would not vote for a woman.

The survey by Elon University also looked ahead to the fall election that will feature Republican John McCain trying to become the oldest person elected to a first presidential term.

No problem, 66% said, age would not be a factor in their vote -- but 44% said they knew someone who would not support someone they viewed as "too old."

Nice to know there are so many open-minded folks in the Tar Heel State. Too bad about so many of their neighbors, though.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[bob kholos]

It's hard to campaign in North Carolina, when there are only two last names in the phone book.

[catjya]

It all became crystal clear to me ~ youtube has 2 videos on hillary,"bosnia and back again" and "the clinton chronicles" these will clear up any doubts about them and how they operate. ~I PITY THE FOOL ~that can't see the truth!!!

[DM.CA.]

Bring Peter Paul out in the open This is happening in LA why is it not front page news?
The Clintons are in LA today ,Media do your job!

[rita forte]

Fairly simple explanation, actually: Years of inbreeding have made the residents of North Carolina a very "close" bunch of folks. There's really only eight racists, twelve sexists and fourteen ageists; it's just that everybody knows them.

[Joy]

Yes, these results are strange -- but in the opposite way! Assume for a moment that 91% of NC voters really aren't racist about political candidates. That means that everyone they know has a 9% chance of being racist. If they know 10 people, the chance that none of them are racist is .91 to the 10th power, or 39%. In other words, they have a 61% chance of knowing someone racist (compared to the 54% who said they did). This is probably a low estimate, too, since people generally know the (extreme) views of more than 10 people. And as a previous poster pointed out -- if jokingly -- all it takes is one very vocal racist (or sexist, or ageist) person to be the "one person" that everyone in their neighborhood / church / school district knows. In addition, friendship networks aren't uniform: racist people are more likely to have friends who are also racist, and vice versa. So all this adds up to: the NC voters are probably vastly UNDER-counting whether there is anyone in their neighborhoods who would vote based on race, sex, or age.