Reuters poll on voter racial attitudes

A lot of people on dKos have expressed deep and entertainingly articulate contempt for the (many/most/all) racist Trump supporters, and have urged HRC to do the same, in effect appearing to say that those people should be written off — and that none of them are “in play” for the Democrats.

If expressing your contempt for those who are inferior to you in one or more respects gives you that wonderful, warm, puffed-up feeling, by all means let it rip – it sure works for Trump.

But I'd just like to point out ONE thing of note about the Reuters poll (www.reuters.com/...) on voters' racial attitudes: If this poll has any validity, there is a disappointing amount of racism among Hillary supporters (which I read as Democrats, or rather white Democrats, in general).

Kasich & Clinton supporters look very similar from this point of view. Have all of these Kasich supporters really switched to Clinton?

I don't point this out to say one shouldn't vote for Hillary, or for the lesser of two evils in general (unless you needs to constantly polish your spotless identity more than you need a functioning republic): Trump is already a catastrophe, and I’m confident that Hillary will be one of the most competent presidents ever. It is only to say that there is & will be a lot of work to be done about bigotry no matter who is president – and that, if we really want to reach people with the best of what we have to offer, we all need to make a habit of challenging our own attitudes and assumptions.

If nothing else, I think these statistics suggest that some Trump supporters are in fact “in play.” This does not mean that they should be pandered to with dog-whistling. (You might be able to think of an example or two of a liberal candidate doing that). It does mean that they should be accorded base-level respect, which could include trying to find out what they actually think and feel — and why. Maybe I’m naive but I think that if you treat people with respect (even when you are appalled by their apparent attitudes) they may be somewhat more inclined to treat others the same way. This is something that I, for one, really have to work at.

I hope Hillary will pound away incessantly at Trump’s bigotry, and all the other dangerous & disgusting things about him and his candidacy. I just don’t see the usefulness of directing the attacks at his supporters, unless it is directed toward particular individuals in documented incidents.

A more interesting campaign approach (OK, a stretch...) might be to find some examples of Trump supporters doing good things and pointing out how inconsistent those things are with Trump’s bullying, bigoted, narcissistic fascism — and how consistent they are with the values of Clinton supporters. That way, instead of humiliating them, you’d be encouraging them to connect the dots, and possibly connect with other humans who aren’t as different as they might think. Humiliated people don’t think straight.

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By the way, Brainwrap (www.dailykos.com/...) has an excellent take on the statistical realities of Hillary's “deplorables” statement:

“In other words, if you take Hillary Clinton's statement literally, she's effectively saying that 10% of the U.S. population is racist. This is hardly a controversial statement. ... she (effectively) said that pretty much all racists are Trump supporters. This is also hardly a controversial statement.”

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Meanwhile, PLEASE! think down-ballot - and act: The Koch brothers are everywhere with truckloads of secret cash for local elections.