What can I say about Larry Bartles, author of today’s featured NY Times Op-Ed? This fact-based opinion should be good news to people who care about approaching a post-racial America.
Mr. Bartels wrote, “The single largest difference in positions between either party’s presidential candidates and swing voters over the past three decades has been on the issue of racial policy. On average, Republican candidates have been seen as just six points to the right of the political center on the question of government assistance to African-Americans. Democratic candidates have been 26 points to the left…
“Using survey data from the authoritative American National Election Studies, [Larry Bartels] tracked the positions of swing voters (those who are most likely to be pivotal in a close election) and core partisans (the most committed and politically active members of each party’s base) on five important issues since 1980 — government spending, jobs, aid to African-Americans (the survey asks if the federal government should make every “effort to improve the social and economic positions of blacks”), military spending and overall liberal-conservative ideology. [He] compared these positions with the positions of the parties’ presidential candidates (as assessed by politically well-informed citizens in each election year who were asked to place the candidates on the same issue scales they used to place themselves).
Across all five issues, the average distance between Democratic and Republican core partisans increased by almost one-third between 1980 and 2012, from 26 points to 34 points on a 100-point scale. On average, the Democratic base moved 1.5 points further to the left of swing voters, while the Republican base moved 6.5 points further to the right.”
An article worth reading, fellow citizens!
What are your thoughts?
Louis Walsh
Race Against Race! 