Posted on 06/25/2016 10:26:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Supporters listen as U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to voters at a rally at the The Myrtle Beach Sports Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, February 19, 2016. REUTERS/Randall Hill Although a few political analysts have been focusing on the white working class for years, it is only in response to the rise of Donald Trump that this large group of Americans has begun to receive the attention it deserves. Now, thanks to a comprehensive survey that the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) undertook in collaboration with the Brookings Institution, we can speak with some precision about the distinctive attitudes and preferences of these voters.
There are different ways of defining the white working class. Along with several other survey researchers, PRRI defines this group as non-Hispanic whites with less than a college degree, with the additional qualification of being paid by the hour or by the job rather than receiving a salary. No definition is perfect, but this one works pretty well. Most working-class whites have incomes below $50,000; most whites with BAs or more have incomes above $50,000. Most working-class whites rate their financial circumstances as only fair or poor; most college educated whites rate their financial circumstances as good or excellent. Fifty-four percent of working-class whites think of themselves as working class or lower class, compared to only 18 percent of better-educated whites.
The PRRI/Brookings study finds that in many respects, these two groups of white voters see the world very differently. For example, 54 percent of college-educated whites think that America’s culture and way of life have improved since the 1950s; 62 percent of white working-class Americans think that it has changed for the worse. Sixty-eight percent of working-class whites, but only 47 percent of college-educated whites, believe that the American way of life needs to be protected against foreign influences. Sixty-six percent of working-class whites, but only 43 percent of college-educated whites, say that discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities. In a similar vein, 62 percent of working-class whites believe that discrimination against Christians has become as big a problem as discrimination against other groups, a proposition only 38 percent of working-class whites endorse.
This brings us to the issue of immigration. By a margin of 52 to 35 percent, college-educated whites affirm that today’s immigrants strengthen our country through their talent and hard work. Conversely, 61 percent of white working-class voters say that immigrants weaken us by taking jobs, housing, and health care. Seventy-one percent of working-class whites think that immigrants mostly hurt the economy by driving down wages, a belief endorsed by only 44 percent of college-educated whites. Fifty-nine percent of working-class whites believe that we should make a serious effort to deport all illegal immigrants back to their home countries; only 33 percent of college-educated whites agree. Fifty-five percent of working-class whites think we should build a wall along our border with Mexico, while 61 percent of whites with BAs or more think we should not. Majorities of working-class whites believe that we should make the entry of Syrian refugees into the United States illegal and temporarily ban the entrance of non-American Muslims into our country; about two-thirds of college-educated whites oppose each of these proposals.
Opinions on trade follow a similar pattern. By a narrow margin of 48 to 46 percent, college-educated whites endorse the view that trade agreements are mostly helpful to the United States because they open up overseas markets while 62 percent of working-class whites believe that they are harmful because they send jobs overseas and drive down wages.
It is understandable that working-class whites are more worried that they or their families will become victims of violent crime than are whites with more education. After all, they are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher levels of social disorder and criminal behavior. It is harder to explain why they are also much more likely to believe that their families will fall victim to terrorism. To be sure, homegrown terrorist massacres of recent years have driven home the message that it can happen to anyone, anywhere. We still need to explain why working-class whites have interpreted this message in more personal terms.
The most plausible interpretation is that working-class whites are experiencing a pervasive sense of vulnerability. On every front—economic, cultural, personal security—they feel threatened and beleaguered. They seek protection against all the forces they perceive as hostile to their cherished way of life—foreign people, foreign goods, foreign ideas, aided and abetted by a government they no longer believe cares about them. Perhaps this is why fully 60 percent of them are willing to endorse a proposition that in previous periods would be viewed as extreme: the country has gotten so far off track that we need a leader who is prepared to break so rules if that is what it takes to set things right.
Liberals, especially Obama, want white to be subservient beasts to progressives and blacks. Obama is motivated by a visceral contempt for all things white and American.
All Jews everywhere know the rest of the world would be so happy to wipe us from the face of the earth.
History makes us paranoid because history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Let’s see....Beheadings.....TB.....etc. ( I think even the Plague) is the US now because of OPEN BORDERS!!
She just gave a speech there.....had meeting with some of the fellows afterwards......sounds like a real conservative place there. :0)
We absolutely should deport all illegals and permanently bar them for ever re-entering the USA, and eliminate our policy of soil citizenship.
Most of the legalized citizens should at least be reviewed, and they should be productive and positive contributors. If they are parasites, they should have their citizenship revoked and be deported.
If they wrote this crap about anybody but whites, they’d be labeled racist.
You’re right; they don’t want whites to disappear (which is happening anyway) - they want them to provide for every need of “preferred minorities”.
It isn’t happening; most whites are quite content to simply leave this world without bestowing another generation of “makers” for the “takers” that are inheriting the Earth.
This just shows how much influence college has on kids.
The BOTTOM LINE is that parents who don’t install values in their kids will have those values installed for them. The kids with one exception (me) will NEVER figure this stuff out on their own, there will always be people guiding them to their answer.
So WAKE UP PARENTS - stop being non-judgmental, and do what Dennis Prager says that all conservatives need to do: PREACH WHAT YOU PRACTICE. If you’re a straight couple, make sure your kids know why that lifestyle is vastly better than alternatives...give the kids some ammo when they have to fight in a hostile world.
54 percent of college-educated whites think that America’s culture and way of life have improved since the 1950s.
And the same group think college should be free more immigration is like adding another ole on the Titanic.
54 percent of college-educated whites think that America’s culture and way of life have improved since the 1950s
You know, I am always the square peg in the round hole. lol
The left is like a parasite killing it’s host, what will they do when the middle class is gone? What happens when we can’t pay the bill?
So true.
Working class whites pay the bill and get kicked in the teeth by racist globalists.
Jews and their supporters should never be divided nor let down their guard. Getting that way for Christians now that the globalist elite have gotten in bed with Islam, too.
Galson = Clinton appointee and supercilious jerk.
“By a margin of 52 to 35 percent, college-educated whites affirm that today’s immigrants strengthen our country through their talent and hard work. Conversely, 61 percent of white working-class voters say that immigrants weaken us by taking jobs, housing, and health care. Seventy-one percent of working-class whites think that immigrants mostly hurt the economy by driving down wages, a belief endorsed by only 44 percent of college-educated whites.”
This is entirely due to the types of interactions the two groups are likely to have with undifferentiated “immigrants”. To the white, college educated person, an “immigrant” is the Chinese circuit designer the cubical over, or the Indian cardiologist taking care of your dad. Even illegal immigrants are likely to be the invisible people who, for a small amount of money, clean your office or your house when you are not around. To the white, working class person, “immigrants” are the guys on the all-Spanish speaking job site that turned your down for work. Or they are the people jamming up your kids’ school with English learners, or changing the face of the small town where you grew up.
I think the plan is to bring in a lot of clever Chinese people to keep the light on when we are gone.
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