Written by Aldous J Pennyfarthing of Daily Kos, and cross-posted from there. Additional content at the bottom of this article comes from a comment on the story on dKos.
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Sometimes you get confirmation of something you already knew and it still makes you want to vomit your small intestines down a storm sewer. Ever wonder why there are so many racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and transphobic GOP candidates? Because GOP voters love ‘em, that’s why! Occam’s razor cuts pretty deep sometimes, doesn’t it?
The latest Morning Consult/Politico poll surveyed voters of all stripes and found, among other horrors, that a full 62% of Republicans are more or less cool with candidates who are accused of making racist remarks.
And that’s not all! They’re also bigger fans of domestic violence, sexual misconduct, homophobia, and antisemitism than Democrats and independents are.
Morning Consult/Politico
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 27, 2022
If a candidate is accused of ___ is it a major problem?
Sexual misconduct:
83% of Dems say yes
77% Ind
66% Republicans
Domestic violence:
81 D
74 I
67 R
Racist remarks:
80 D
59 I
38 R
Homophobic remarks
71 D
50 I
25 R
Antisemitism
71 D
61 I
47 R
The party of personal responsibility and family values, right?
Of course, judging by Donald Trump’s vote totals in the past two elections, it’s safe to assume that at least 98% of the 38% of Republicans who claim to be bothered by racist remarks also told Morning Consult their favorite pastime is lying to pollsters.
It would also be interesting to see what these numbers were before Trump decided to start devouring old-school Republicans’ souls like so much Fiddle Faddle. Perhaps the cognitive dissonance was simply too much for the 34% of Republicans who think sexual misconduct is no biggie and they decided to be honest for once. And, wait, you’re telling me racism may actually be a selling point for GOP candidates? Here I thought all those white Rust Belt voters were flocking to Trump because of Kanye.
By the way, you’ll be shocked to learn that only 26% of Republicans would consider it a major problem if a candidate was accused of making transphobic remarks. I’m surprised it’s that high, honestly.
They say it’s important to know your enemy. I’d like to amend that slightly: It’s important to know your enemies, but not so well that you can’t control your vomit reflex when you’re driving to the polls to vote them out. I sincerely hope this news hasn’t pushed you over that edge.
(from a comment under the original story)
“It would also be interesting to see what these numbers were before Trump decided to start devouring old-school Republicans’ souls .... And, wait, you’re telling me racism may actually be a selling point for GOP candidates?”
You rang?
Donald Trump’s presidency associated with significant changes in the topography of prejudice in the United States — PsyPost, April 10, 2022
A series of 13 studies with over 10,000 participants tested the change in Americans’ prejudice following the presidency of Donald Trump. The researchers found that explicit racial and religious prejudice increased amongst Trump’s supporters, while prejudice decreased among those who opposed him.
[...]
Trump supporters perceived that expressing prejudice had become more acceptable since his election, and this perception predicted greater personal prejudice among them. As well, “experimentally leading participants to feel that Trump supporters approved of his controversial rhetoric significantly increased Trump supporters’ personal expressions of prejudice.”
