A new poll in South Carolina suggests some of Trump's supporters want slavery back in the U.S.

What does it say about a party when half of the people supporting one of its most popular presidential candidates wishes we still had slavery in this country? I’m pretty sure it means that what we’ve said for years now about them — that they brazenly and openly court racists — is totally accurate. They’d of course deny that it means anything about the party at large, but this party also so happens to be the one that still thinks there were WMD in Iraq and that Supply Side Economics work, so let’s not go building any bridges with their intellect, shall we?

By now, I’m pretty sure that most have seen the recent poll conducted of Trump supporters in the Palmetto State that showed 38% of those who responded wished the Confederacy had won the Civil War, and that 70% wished the Confederate battle flag still flew over the South Carolina capitol, but just in case, here’s a snippet of it from Public Policy Polling’s press release.

-70% think the Confederate flag should still be flying over the State Capital, to only 20% who agree with it being taken down. In fact 38% of Trump voters say they wish the South had won the Civil War to only 24% glad the North won and 38% who aren’t sure. Overall just 36% of Republican primary voters in the state are glad the North emerged victorious to 30% for the South, but Trump’s the only one whose supporters actually wish the South had won. (source)

Here’s the thing though — as scary as it is to read the responses to that question, it’s just the tip of the racist and xenophobic iceberg in that poll. The responses are galling but they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how many Republicans truly are racist to the core. Well, they could just be plain stupid if they don’t realize wishing the Confederacy had won means that slavery would’ve been kept alive, but either we call them racist or stupid, and neither one reflects well on the GOP.

What else is in the poll? Well, try this one on for size:

-By an 80/9 spread, Trump voters support his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. In fact 31% would support a ban on homosexuals entering the United States as well, something no more than 17% of anyone else’s voters think is a good idea. (source)

Yup, that’s right, 80% of South Carolina Trump supporters are totally cool with banning Muslims entering the country. Unfortunately there wasn’t a follow-up on whether they’d want the Muslims currently in the country branded with special patches and tattoos, but hopefully PPP covers that some time. Then there’s the fact that 31% of them also would be just fine with banning homosexuals from entering the country is a great idea too. Fascism in America is alive and well, clearly.





Oh, and let’s not forget this incredibly troubling bullshit form the poll too:

There’s also 62/23 support among Trump voters for creating a national database of Muslims and 40/36 support for shutting down all the mosques in the United States, something no one else’s voters back. Only 44% of Trump voters think the practice of Islam should even be legal at all in the United States, to 33% who think it should be illegal. (source)

A national database of Muslims. So yeah, pretty much Trump’s supporters are fine with the modern day equivalent of patches and tattoos for Muslims.

Another 40% want mosques shut down. Because you know, if someone proposed shutting down Christian churches after the Planned Parenthood shooting they’d be really understanding of that proposal too, and on the same grounds, right? And not even half of Trump supporters in South Carolina think Islam should be legal?! So they don’t even think the First Amendment is a thing anymore now?

But, just to put the cherry on the racist and xenophobic sundae that Trump is feeding his followers, let’s take a look at one more finding from the poll, shall we?

To put all the views toward Muslims in context though, 32% of Trump voters continue to believe the policy of Japanese internment during World War II was a good one, compared to only 33% who oppose it and 35% who have no opinion one way or another. (source)

Nearly a third of Trump supporters in South Carolina think interning Japanese Americans during the Second World War was a dandy idea, and another third don’t have a fucking opinion? How does that even work? “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not sure if racially-based internment of humans is good or not, let me get back to you.” What the actual fuck?

This poll should be shown to every smug lolbertaryan who waves FDR in front of liberals’ faces and chastises them over internment camps. I’m pretty sure most liberals today would condemn FDR’s treatment of Japanese Americans, and yet we have direct evidence in this poll that self-described conservative Republicans would bring the camps back and stuff Muslims into them.

What a hilarious world we live in where this is happening and it’s not a much, much bigger story. Yes, the confederacy answers got some ink, but what I really want to know is how many of these Trump supporters would switch to Cruz, or whoever the Republican is come November. Something tells me quite a few will pivot to another Republican if Trump’s not running independently, and if you need more evidence that the GOP has been openly courting racists for over a decade than that fact, I cannot help you. I can lead you to the water…

…but supping from it is all on you.

Editor’s note: The original title of the piece referenced the 38% number as “nearly half.” While this is a subjective opinion and wasn’t meant to mislead, we have changed the title of the article to accurately reflect the number of respondents who said they wanted the Civil War to have ended completely differently.