“In this presidential battleground, as in much of the South, politics are typically viewed through a prism of Black and white.”
While it may be somewhat accurate, that is one of the most awkward sentences I have ever read.
The writing is bad. The metaphor of prism is broken because it is properly meant to imply a wide gradation of color and view, not simple black and white. Like an engine and transmission that shudders and clunks, many readers sense errors in writing even though the precise cause may elude immediate recognition.