America. Land of the ???
A recent survey of Americans conducted by Rasmussen seems to indicate that the popularity of the Pledge of Allegiance (never really all that unpopular) is on the rise.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of U.S. voters say school children should say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Just 13% say they should not, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.
Eighty-two percent (82%) say the words “under God” should remain in the Pledge as well. Fourteen percent (14%) think the phrase should be dropped from the Pledge, and just four percent (4%) have no opinion.
The subset topics in the survey also included a few highlights of interest, particularly the questions posed specifically to African-Americans and women. 84% of black Americans felt that school children should recite the pledge each day, compared to 77% of whites. The reason I found this statistic somewhat startling was that the same survey indicated that 91% of Republicans were in favor of the proposal as compared to only 67% of Democrats. Given that African-Americans register as Democrats nearly 90% of the time, that figure seemed striking. The Rasmussen article provides no theory explaining that seeming contradiction.
One of the other questions asked respondents whether or not they felt that America was truly a “land of liberty and justice for all.” Overall, 46% said that is was, with 42% saying it wasn’t. But here the sub-demographics broke quite differently.
Most men believe America is a land of liberty and justice for all, but a plurality of women (45%) disagree.
Whites by a 49% to 40% margin say the United States is a country with liberty and justice for all. But just 20% of black voters agree. Sixty percent (60%) of blacks say America is not fair to all.
Two days after Barack Obama became the first African-American to be voted into the White House, the percentage of black voters who viewed American society as fair and decent jumped 18 points to 42%. Just a month earlier, only 24% of black voters viewed U.S. society as fair and decent.
These figures likely shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. White males, who pretty much ran the system since its inception, were more likely to see the country as a land of equal opportunity. Women and blacks, who had to fight their own long slogging battles for equality during the 20th century, were less likely to see it that way. I tend to think that we still have progress to make in these areas but, with the exception of gay rights, we are at least moving in the right direction and making both the effort and progress towards those goals.
The final quoted paragraph is also interesting in that black Americans seemed to experience a spike in confidence following Barack Obama’s election. I wonder if women underwent a dip in those numbers when Hillary Clinton failed to secure the nomination and where they stand now as opposed to a year ago?
That brings up an interesting facet which was not addressed in the poll. I wonder what percentage of self-avowed, openly-gay Americans would have answered the last question in the positive? Frankly, I’d be shocked if you achieved a figure in double digits. Your thoughts?
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9 Responses to “America. Land of the ???”
I'm by no means a social scientist, but it seems to be that although blacks tend to be Democratic, they also tend to be socially conservative on some issues, perhaps related to the fact that they tend to be more religious. See the proposition 8 vote for another example of Democratic blacks voting with conservatives.
This is just another example of the fallacy of the two-dimensional political line.
Sorry, that should be “…the fallacy of the one-dimensional political line”. Apparently I'm not a mathematician either.
But we are moving in the right direction for gay rights, and rapidly. In 2000, an anti gay marriage proposition passed in California with 61% of the vote. This election, California's anti-gay Proposition 8 got only 52%. In two to four years, enough anti-gay voters will have died and enough pro-gay rights young people will have come of voting age that a similar anti-gay proposition should fail. Also, note that the debate has shifted greatly. Gay civil unions are now accepted to the point that we're talking about gay marriage now.
I think the pledge should be said at the start of each school day, I think “under God” should be removed (it's not in the original and was only put into the pledge in the 1950s, if I recall correctly).
I think America is not a land of “liberty and justice” for all (though I think it's the best place in the world) but we are constantly working on our more perfect union. Same with gay rights- obviously we're not there, but we're heading in the right direction.
Since I see things as a process I understand that there will be set-backs in any struggle (which is what we've had with gay rights), but ultimately gay rights will prevail. Just for the record, I don't see the issue as “gay rights” but rather “equal rights”. There's nothing “gay” about equal rights. Just like women, blacks, religious groups all want to be able to be full humans and be able to pursue their own happiness without hindrance from someone who doesn't happen to like the way they look or who doesn't agree with their opinions. I also think it should be up to the individual religious groups to develop their own attitudes on gays and lesbians without outside interference.
skylights: “In two to four years, enough anti-gay voters will have died and enough pro-gay rights young people will have come of voting age that a similar anti-gay proposition should fail.”
I disagree with you there. “Pro-gay rights young people” aren't just born. What is occurring is more gays and lesbians are becoming visible and many people, including older people, are becoming more accepting of gays and lesbians, especially if they have friends who are gay and lesbian. If one doesn't believe they know anyone gay or lesbian, then their opinion may be formed on the basis of misleading information heard in the media…. But once someone realizes that their friend John Doe is gay, and he's OK, then people will start to accept gays and lesbians and support equal rights.
Pro-gay rights people and anti-gay rights people are created out of circumstance all the time…. they're not born, though as a rule it's the younger people who do become pro-gay rights because they have friends who are gay and lesbian. Just like many older people have their prejudices that they can't shake.
Lastly, how many people who never dreamed they would ever support a black guy for president voted for Obama? I'm sure quite a lot. I'm positive that most people of a certain generation thought they'd never vote for a black guy. But (as with equal rights) once Obama and his policies became known (and compared to McCain's attributes) many people, including senior citizens who never thought they would vote for a black guy, voted for Obama. Many of these voters may still be struggling with their own issues of racism, but voters saw the inherent worth of Obama and placed other ideals above their own racism. (I'm referring to voters who had to struggle with their own racism in voting for a black guy).
Progress is made not when old people die and a new generation takes their place, but rather when there is an open discussion and people become educated on that particular issue.
StockBoySF: We don't disagree. Obviously pro-gay rights people aren't “just born.” I didn't think I had to explain that. I'm merely referring to polls that show young people are vastly more pro-gay rights than older people, even if some older people have seen the light over the years. Obviously, the increased visibility of gays and lesbians is a major factor in this. If current trends continue, we will have a more pro-gay rights society just by virtue of the old views literally dying off and the new views coming of age. Of course gays and lesbians need to stay visible, and I have no doubt they will.
skylights, yes I think we do agree on the outcome. The point I was making is that people's attitudes change. Not that anti-gay rights people grow old and die. Plenty of people (of all age groups) have become more accepting of others. Though I do also agree that many older people have more ingrained beliefs.
I'm wondering if, two or four years from now, many liberals, including those on here who say “moderate” when they are not, will resume using the word “liberal.” I guess that will happen when “Reagan is dead,” though 1980 wasn't about him but about how “liberal” had long earned a stigma. Liberalism needs revision and erasure of the stigma. Good luck.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1042/winds-of-polit…
Jazz, this is an interesting and good post.
The pledge of allegiance means a great deal to me. In it, I think of my grandfathers and uncles who served in the Second World War. It brings back feelings of “belonging” and solidarity from my childhood, into my adulthood in ways that seem to bridge time.
I regret: the takeover of the word “patriotism” when it is used as a dividing, nationalistic (xenophobic) word–the way it has been hashed and thrashed in the last few years as a political tool and demonizing method. As I say the pledge, unfortunately there still remains a bitter taste, when I consider that it is patriotic to pledge. I wonder if I'll ever see “patriotism” in the same unifying way as when I was a child–given the “real-America” and “pro-American” verbage of the last political campaign, I doubt the word will ever amount to much anymore.
I regret: “under God” as a religious tool and as another way politicians pander to the fundamentalist religionists, who incidentally were able to spend valuable time in the Texas Legislature creating and unanimously passing an “under God” clause for the Texas pledge as well. When the pledge is a pledge to a fundamentalist Protestant Jesus, it loses its value for many of us. If it becomes simply a dogmatic recital of Christianism, there will be less incentive to recite the pledge for those not Christian.
“Liberty and justice for all?” I feel that there is no-where quite like America, where there is possibility for liberty and justice for all. We have been (up until recently) a land ruled by evolving, improving secular law, and with checks and balances and at our best a semblance of a constitutional democracy. Whether we choose to remain so, will be the question.