The NAACP released its 2018 midterm election survey on Tuesday, revealing a series of questions about President Donald Trump’s alleged racism and how it would affect voters of different ethnic groups in the upcoming races.
The survey covers a wide range of issues ranging from celebrities who like Trump to LGBT rights and separation of children from parents who are arrested for breaking the law while illegally entering the United States.
Included in the survey of registered voters in 61 “highly competitive” congressional districts is this question: “Is Trump Racist & Intentionally So (Blacks Only)?” Fifty-four percent answered, “Donald Trump is a racist whose policies are intended to hurt [blacks].”
The survey also asked if Trump has “made you feel disrespected?” Divided by gender, 74 percent of black men and 89 percent of black women said yes.
The survey also found 79 percent of black survey respondents said Trump is “growing racial division” and 77 percent of black survey respondents saying the president is “setting race relations back.”
The survey also asks whites, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans about Trump’s being “intentionally” racists in a separate question, revealing that Asians by the lowest percentage thought that to be true (24 percent). Whites came in at 38 percent.
“Our analysis shows that Trump’s racist statements and actions, which include many policies like separating children at the border, will be major factors in turning people out to vote, and how they vote,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said about the survey.
“Many minority voters see Trump as a threat,“ Henry Fernandez, principal of the African American Research Collaborative, which conducted the survey with Latino Decision.
Roll Call headlined its report on the survey: “Sorry Kanye, Black Voters Don’t Buy Celebrity Trump Endorsements.”
Kanye West and Dennis Rodman’s recent endorsements of Donald Trump have not impressed black voters in competitive districts whose deep dissatisfaction with the president could play a “key role” in the midterms, according to a poll released Tuesday.
The poll … is the latest to find that ethnic minorities associate Trump with racism, and that they are mobilized to vote against Republicans in November. That’s in spite of efforts by Trump and his supporters to enlist surrogates to rally support from the black community.
Black voters’ negative opinions of Trump are so strong that black celebrities speaking on Trump’s behalf could actually “backfire,” and repel more people than they persuade, Johnson said.
“African Americans may see celebrities speaking in favor of Trump as not necessarily genuine,” Johnson said.
The survey did not ask any questions about what Trump has accomplished since he was elected, including historically low unemployment rates for blacks, Latinos, and women.
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