Poll: Majority of white Americans, especially Trump's base, say whites face discrimination - Entrepreneur Generations

"A majority of whites say discrimination against them exists in America today, according to a poll released Tuesday from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health," Don Gonyea reports for NPR. About 84 percent of whites believe discrimination exists against racial and ethnic minorities in America today.

The overall percentage of whites who believe discrimination against whites exists is 55 percent, but "roughly two-thirds of whites without a college degree and whites who live in rural areas, however, believe discrimination against whites exists. And those whites are also more likely to say they've experienced that discrimination personally," Domenico Montanaro reports for NPR. Lower-and-moderate income white Americans are also more likely to say discrimination exists against white people. All of that is significant, Montanaro points out, because rural whites without a college degree are President Trump's voting base. And rural Americans who feel dismayed about the changing culture of America tipped the election in Trump's favor.

Notably, a much smaller percentage of white Americans say they've personally experienced racial discrimination. White construction worker Tim Musick from Maryland told Gonyea that he thinks whites are discriminated against because people assume that all white people are bigots. "I think that you pretty much, because you're white, you're automatically thrown into that group as being a bigot and a racist and that somehow you perceive yourself as being more superior to everybody else, which is ridiculous," he said. "I don't know what it feels like to be a black man walking around in the streets, but I do know what it feels like to be pegged, because of how you look, and what people perceive just on sight."

Political scientist David Cohen at the University of Akron says the findings fit into one of the biggest narratives of the latest presidential election. "I think this does reinforce a lot of the resentment you saw in the 2016 election, especially among white, working-class voters lacking a college degree," Cohen told Gonyea.

Gonyea considers: "Though it's possible that Trump's message to disaffected whites did make a difference in the decisive battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Cohen said the question remains: Did Trump create or significantly boost white resentment overall — or did he simply tap into a trend with deep roots and history?"

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2AjJjWG Poll: Majority of white Americans, especially Trump's base, say whites face discrimination - Entrepreneur Generations

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