A new Research 2000/Daily Kos poll of self-identified Republicans was released this morning, and the results, which expose the actual beliefs of many of our neighbors, are stunning. It’s hard for thinking people to wrap their heads around results like this, but here are highlights:
Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?
Yes 39
No 32
Not Sure 29
For what? Dunno.
Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16
The next question, of course, should have been “define socialist.” These people, after all, think that the terms socialist and fascist are interchangeable. The next two are stunning:
Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
Yes 24
No 43
Not Sure 33Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?
Yes 21
No 24
Not Sure 55
So over half of Republicans at least think it’s possible that Obama wants terrorists to win, and that ACORN is such a frightening boogeyman that they could steal ten million votes for Obama. Stunning.
What about gays? What do Republicans really think about gays?
Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?
Yes 26
No 55
Not Sure 19Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?
Yes 7
No 77
Not Sure 16Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?
Yes 11
No 68
Not Sure 21Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?
Yes 8
No 73
Not Sure 19
OUCH. So only a quarter of them have wrapped their little heads around the idea that gay people defend their freedom to be as ignorant as they want, only seven percent think we should have equal rights, only eleven percent think we should have any rights AT ALL, and only eight percent think we should be able to teach school.
Yeeeeeeah. There’s some major knuckle-dragging going on here.
And the fact that gay Republicans even exist, and that some of these gay Republicans try to defend their party against (correct) charges of homophobia, of bigotry, of abject stupidity continues to be a stunner.
One more, and then go read the rest of the results (don’t miss their fact-free beliefs on reproductive rights) for yourself:
Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?
Yes 77
No 15
Not Sure 8
Sheesh! The fact that opinions like this still survive in this country and that people who hold them go through their lives without being laughed at every day is frightening.
Conservatives often complain that the elitist coastal liberals are condescending to them, and really, I think that’s a valid complaint. But we shouldn’t change that. We should be condescending toward these sorts of opinions, because they’re not valid opinions. People are free to hold them, because, hey, it’s America, but we shouldn’t lower ourselves to such a level that we pretend that opinions like this deserve equal time, because they’re not formed based on equal facts or equal reality. None of the above Republican beliefs can be justified with evidence. In fact, only by sustained ignorance can they stand.
These are the people Obama claimed we should “reach out to” and find common ground with. “Reaching out” to such people only gets your hand bitten, and there’s no common ground to be found with them.
Let me be the devil’s advocate here for a second. I don’t think this poll is accurate at all, as it flies in the face of pretty much every poll I’ve ever seen from places like gallup (which have shown, for one, majority republican support for repealing DADT).
The republican party is pretty far right, but this poll reads as if it were taken from the fringe of the fringe of the fringe (like at some southern baptist idiot’s convention).
It simply can’t be right.
(and I say this as a devoted liberal)
Research 2000 is a reputable, reliable source.
I think what you’re noticing is that the Republican party has boxed itself into a regional, anti-intellectual corner, because of the deal with the devil they made with the Religious Right years ago. They never gave a damn about the Religious Right, except as useful idiots, but when you do that, those people are bound to start rising through the ranks and spouting that nonsense.
I haven’t seen a poll with majority REPUBLICAN support for repealing DADT. A link would be helpful.
I’ve seen polls with overwhelming support for repeal across the general public.
It’s helpful to remember though, that no matter how they vote, Democrats enjoy a double digit lead in party affiliation, and this is a poll of self-identified Republicans.
This 2008 WAPO article says:
Today, Americans have become more supportive of allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent. More than eight in 10 Democrats and more than three-quarters of independents now support the idea, as did nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR2008071802561.html
That’s interesting.
My guess, and I’m going to have to do a little Googling on this, is that fewer and fewer people self-identify as Republicans these days. I’d be interested to see if there’s an arc on this, or enough information to figure out which polls might be outliers.
One thing I noticed in the WaPo article — it mentioned that only 28% supported firing gay teachers…and as of that writing, 39% of voters self-identified as Republicans. It’s pretty safe to say that most voters who would support firing gay teachers are Republicans.
The other thing I would be interested in is how the Pew/WaPo questions were asked vs. how the new poll’s questions are asked. Because very often, you can get hugely divergent numbers based on phraseology. Look at how polls were all over the map on the public option in HCR. When the question was asked in a way that truly explained what “public option” meant, public support was very high, but when it was asked in ways that were more in line with GOP talking points, public support was lower.
So. Anyway.
I was really frightened and discouraged when I read the following article and the comments. These people truly hate us and are contemptuous of us. Fortunately they also give the lie to the “Civil unions are fine–it’s the word marriage we have a problem with”.
These wing nuts are getti8ng crazier all the time, at leastt in Arizona.
I’m sorry but you shouldn’t trust polls from online sources. We at Pharyngula often crash poll numbers so we know they are not reliable. Still the fact that these (few) people think this way is scary.
I’ve helped Pharyngula crash many an online poll, so I know what you’re talking about.
But Research 2000 is an official polling outfit.
This was not an online poll, so I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about.
I’m sorry. I failed to read the post in full. I’ll sulk back to pharyngula now.
Hahaha, it’s okay, if you’re a Pharyngula person, I know you have a brain. I do stuff that like once in a while.