Posted on 08/03/2003 7:26:06 AM PDT by schaketo
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- A recent poll released by Black America's PAC (BAMPAC) has found that President Bush's approval rating remains above average for a Republican among black Americans. The poll also uncovered a number of surprising realities about blacks' opinions on national issues that will likely be encouraging to conservatives.
President Bush's approval rating has decreased from 41% last year to 33% this year, but BAMPAC cautioned that this change was due to the fact that Bush's approval ratings spiked in 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks and the beginning of the war on terror. Bush's approval rating is still much higher among blacks than it was in 2001 (19%), and 48% continue to approve of his handling of the war on terror.
African Americans are particularly concerned about the economy, and 71% disapprove of the administration's performance in that area.
Despite the overall decline in support, however, support for Bush's reelection among blacks has not taken a hit. It remains steady at 21%, far higher than the average elective support Republicans receive from blacks (9%).
Additionally, Bush may benefit from the current disarray in the Democrat field. Blacks do not strongly support any of the current primary candidates. Sen. Lieberman is in the lead, yet only has 13% support among blacks. Sen. Braun has 10% support, and Rev. Sharpton has 9% support. Since none of these three candidates are among the current front-runners in the Democrat pack (Dean and Kerry), the Democrat Party's eventual nominee is unlikely to enjoy automatic support from blacks.
Blacks also expressed a good deal of respect for conservative black figures. Nearly half of blacks (49%) polled felt that Colin Powell is the most influential black person in politics. Jesse Jackson had less than half that support (21%). Condoleezza Rice was in third with 6%.
In a related finding, black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' favorability ratings among blacks increased from 33% last year to 41% this year. It should be noted that Thomas wrote a strong dissenting case against affirmative action earlier this year, coinciding with his rise in popularity. This is the first time Thomas' favorability ratings have exceeded his unfavorable ratings.
With respect to affirmative action, BAMPAC's survey found that while a strong majority (65%) of blacks support affirmative action, only a few (19%) favor the way it is currently applied. Most polls of blacks have not differentiated between the concept and its application.
The polling was conducted before the Supreme Court handed down its decision, which in many ways reflected the same approach to the issue taken by blacks in BAMPAC's survey.
"The poll responses on the issue of Affirmative Action align with BAMPAC's long-standing position on the issue," BAMPAC President Alvin Williams commented. "The public understands and acknowledges that Affirmative Action is a way to level the playing field, but ... perhaps these results will be a precursor to the development of Affirmative Action policies that work to address the disparities in opportunities available that exist not only on a racial level but also on a socio-economic level."
African Americans remain pessimistic about the public school system, with 59% giving their local schools a "C" grade or worse. Significantly, 61% of blacks felt that parents should be primarily responsible for their children's education. 51% favor the establishment of charter schools, and 52% favor either charter or private schools over their current public school system.
This result should encourage the Bush Administration, which has been trying to reach out to minority communities by promoting the concept of school choice, or the ability to send one's children to private school with the funds that would ordinarily fund their education in a public system.
"Parents are taking this responsibility very seriously and, in even larger numbers, they are seeking other options for their children outside of the government funded public school system," Williams noted.
African Americans blasted rap music as an unfortunate and destructive influence in their communities. 52% felt that rap exerts a negative influence on children, with only 18% claiming that it has a positive effect. Fully 59% of blacks favored a system banning the purchase by youth of music with explicit lyrics.
Regarding rap's overall influence in the black community, 23% felt that rap was the most powerful influence, just under that of parents (25%). Blacks felt that rap was more influential than clergy/ministers (19%), athletes (15%), and teachers (10%).
A strong majority (63%) of blacks feel that the media in general portray them inaccurately.
"The results as they related to both the prevalence and the nature of music's influence on our community as a whole and our children in particular should serve as a wake up call to many artists whose music perpetuates negative themes," Williams commented.
"We must first begin to portray ourselves positively using the platforms we can control before we can expect the media, television and films to exercise additional discretion in how they portray the African American experience," Williams added.
Blah, blah, blah.... and blacks keep voting for Democrats. Blacks in America have sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind. Their harvest will be fruitless for many years until they begin electing conservatives....
Blacks have, in recent years, voted for the democrat candidate for president with 92-97% of the black vote. This won't change in 2004. But, since it is so irrational, it is a statistic that will be buried, as in this article. Some blacks understand that with that degree of certainly, the Republicans will disregard blacks and the democrats will take them for granted. So, there will be a real effort to conceal likely black voting efforts for 2004.
The dems will want the Republicans to waste resources in areas where they know the good guys can't win. 21% support for Mr. Bush? Let's see if that turns into more than 5-7% of the black vote in 2004. My bet is that it won't especially if Hillie or Gore is the candidate.
The only risk the dems have regarding the black vote is if Sharpton runs as an independent (he won't, he'll be bought off).
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