Support among white Americans for voter ID laws increases when that question is asked alongside of a photo of African Americans voting, according to a new study.
The new University of Delaware study found that 67 percent of white Americans supported voter ID laws after the question was posed to them with text only or accompanied by a photo of white people voting. But that number increased to 73 percent when the same question is asked with an accompanying photo of African-Americans voting.
“Our findings suggest that public opinion about voter ID laws can be racialized by simply showing images of African American people,” David C. Wilson, who helped supervise the study, said. “The resulting increase in support for the laws happens independently of —even after controlling for— political ideology and negative attitudes about African Americans.”
The spike, from 67 percent to 73 percent, may not be huge but it’s still statistically significant, The Washington Post noted. While there was an increase among white Americans who were asked about their support for voter ID laws, an accompanying picture of black people voting did not cause African Americans or Hispanic voters to show stronger support for voter ID laws.
Here’s a graph of the study’s findings:
The survey results, flagged by the Post on Tuesday, are based on data from a 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study. Data from 1,436 adult respondents in a September 2012 survey was used. Broken down by ethnicity, 80 percent of those surveyed were white, 11 percent were African American and 7 percent were non-White Hispanic.
(H/t: The Washington Post)
I don’t get the fake surprise when ubiquitous racism is noticed. Why it’s only within the lifetimes of most young people (maybe 10 years) that black reporters/columnists have been on cable news channels.
Watch a movie from the 1990s and not even the early 90s to see shocking, by today’s standards, racial stereotyping, homophobia and, of course, the blatant sexism that still rules.
I am quite sure that ALEC performed similar studies prior to sponsoring the model legislation for Voter ID in the slew of states where it became law. They are evil corporate fascists, but they also do their homework. If actual vote fraud is the original sin of democracy, then what we are seeing today is it’s kissing cousin.
Even Judge Posner has figured this one out, and he is a Reagan appointee.
The only thing more scary than an unarmed black person, is an unarmed black person in a voting booth!
But Chief Justice Roberts assured us that racial discrimination in voting is a thing of the past—showing clearly what a moronic right-wing jackass he is.
Voter ID laws have one purpose and one purpose only—to keep blacks from voting.
That those laws also keep students, poor folks, and the elderly from voting is just icing on the cake for the racist conservatives who write and pass such un-American and anti-American laws.
An interesting take on people placed in situations where interracial adjustment has been institutionalized.
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