Chart ‘O the Day
by digby
Interesting. And perhaps good news. It would appear that at least somebody out there is having his or her consciousness raised. But you have to feel a bit breathless when you look at those numbers for Republicans. They’ve improved over the past year but good God.
Kevin Drum has an idea about why they are such outliers and I think he’s right:
I want to play partisan hack today and just focus on the far left bar, which shows that Republicans are far less likely than Democrats to think that blacks don’t get a fair shake from the criminal justice system. At first glance, you might figure that’s just demographics at work. Republicans are heavily white and old, and those two groups are the ones least likely to think blacks are treated unfairly.
But take another look. The mere fact of being Republican makes you less likely than even whites and seniors to believe blacks don’t get fair treatment. Why? Call it the Fox News effect. If you’re exposed day after day to Fox and Drudge and Limbaugh, it means you’re being overwhelmed with the message that blacks are dangerous, blacks are thuggish, and blacks are forever whining about wanting special treatment. This message is so overwhelming that even after Ferguson, Republicans are far less likely than any other group to acknowledge the simple fact that blacks might occasionally get treated a little roughly by cops and DAs.
I read somewhere today that Ferguson cops are wearing bracelets that say “I am Darren Wilson.”
sigh.