Public Religion Survey Proves Right Wingers Evolving into Commies, If Not Already Commies

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Kurt Nicklas

2021-11-01 23:22:09 UTC

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Subject: Public Religion Survey Proves Right Wingers Evolving into

Commies, If Not Already Commies

Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Those who buy into former President Trump Ts lies over the 2020

election and those who watch the far-right channels that amplify his
rhetoric are increasingly embracing anti-democratic opinions and even
contemplating political violence, according to a new poll.

The poll from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute paints

a troubling portrait of a growing segment of the public that is
increasingly unmoored from reality as it embraces conspiracy theories
about child abduction and stolen elections.

It found a deep divide between those who trust right-wing media outlets

and the rest of the nation " and even a divide between those who trust
Fox News and those who trust outlets like One America News Network and
Newsmax.

The poll found about 3 in 10 Americans, 31 percent, believe the 2020

election was stolen from Trump, including two-thirds of Republicans and a
whopping 82 percent of those who trust Fox News more than any other media
outlet.

Among those who trust far-right outlets like One America News Network

and Newsmax, 97 percent say they believe the election " which even
Trump Ts own cybersecurity and election security officials agreed was the
safest and most secure ever conducted in the United States " was stolen.

One in 5 Americans believe in the core tenet of the QAnon conspiracy

that othere is a storm coming soon, while 1 in 6 believe the United
States government is controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles
who run a global child sex-trafficking ring.

The same share, 18 percent, say they agree with the statement that

America has gotten so far off track that otrue American patriots may
have to resort to violence in order to save our country.

The poll found 30 percent of Republicans agree that violence might be

warranted, compared with 17 percent of independents and 11 percent of
Democrats. Those who buy into the farthest-right media outlets are even
more likely to contemplate violence; among those people, 40 percent agree.

oI Tm not an alarmist by nature, but I Tm deeply disturbed by these

numbers. I think that we really have to take them seriously as a threat to
democracy, said Robert Jones, the founder and chief executive of the
Public Religion Research Institute.

The FBI has reported in recent years that white supremacists pose a

critical threat to the safety and security of the United States.

Jones said the growing share of Republicans and arch-conservatives who

buy into the false and violent rhetoric are transforming one of America
Ts two major political parties into a party of racial and religious
grievance, one that sees the ominous other encroaching on what it means to
be an American.

Just 29 percent of Republicans say life has changed mostly for the

better since the 1950s, before civil rights movements ushered in new
protections and more rights for minorities, women and the LGBT community.
The share of white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics who say
life was better 70 years ago " when the average American made far less
and lived for a shorter time than they do today " has also grown in
recent years.

oThere Ts a kind of wistfulness and nostalgia, the power of the

mythical past, Jones said. oIt is an ethno-religious identity, it is
a white Christian America and specifically a white Protestant America that
people are harkening back to.

John Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College and a

former top official at the Republican National Committee during George
H.W. Bush Ts presidency, said the data reflected a wholesale reinvention
of a Republican Party that once aspired to Ronald Reagan Ts shining city
on a hill.

oBack in the 1980s, Republicans aspired to be the party of hope and

opportunity. Now it is the party of blood and soil. The culture war is
front and center, and for many Republicans, it is close to being a literal
war, not just a metaphorical one, Pitney said. oRepublicans have a
nostalgia for an America that never really existed.

The poll found Republican voters far more likely than Democrats to argue

that religious or nativist traits are important to being an American: 9 in
10 Republicans, but only two-thirds of Democrats, say speaking English is
important to an American identity. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans said
both being born in America and being a Christian are important to being an
American; more than half of Democrats said those traits were not important
to an American identity.

Eighty percent of Republicans said America is in danger of losing its

culture and identity, and 98 percent of far-right television viewers
agreed; just a third of Democrats and half of independents said the same.
More than half of Republicans, 56 percent, said things have changed so
much in America that they often feel like a stranger in their own country;
just 31 percent of Democrats agreed.

More than half of Americans, including 55 percent of independent voters

and even 9 percent of Republicans, say the Republican Party today has been
taken over by racists, while just 45 percent say the party is trying to
protect America from outside threats.

Forty-four percent said the Democratic Party had been taken over by

socialists, a number that has not risen in recent years.

Trump, who based his first campaign on a pledge to end oAmerican

carnage and who rose to the pinnacle of the Republican Party at which
he remains today by pledging to build a wall on the Mexican border, is not
entirely responsible for the transformation of Reagan Ts GOP, experts
agreed. Instead, some said Trump took advantage of an environment of fear
and angst that already existed, directed it toward the ominous other and
became something of a metaphorical bulwark himself.

oTrump walked onto a stage that was already set. The set was painted,

the props were there, he turned out to be considerably effective at using
those props and strutting about that stage, but it Ts not a stage of his
creation, Jones said. oHe metaphorically presented himself as a wall
against these changes, and he presented himself as the only thing standing
between his followers and a changing America.

The economic anxiety that some point to as the genesis of Trump Ts rise

certainly exists, though it is an angst that crosses racial and
demographic lines and one that predates the pandemic. More than 8 in 10
Americans said costs of housing and everyday expenses are rising faster
than their income, and 4 in 10 are concerned about their ability to pay
for basic goods.

The shares of Black and Hispanic Americans who worry about paying for

basic goods, rent and credit card debt are all higher than the share of
white Americans. But 38 percent of whites said they, too, are worried
about affording basic goods.

At a time when politicians " and Trump, most prominently " are

pitting groups against each other, those anxieties manifest in the divides
that are widening today, Jones said.

oAmericans are feeling the economic crunches and they don Tt just see

it as a result of the pandemic, Jones said. oThat doesn Tt help turn
the flame down on these cultural conflicts, it exacerbates them. If people
are feeling like the pie is too small and it Ts a zero-sum game, that Ts
not a great place for political compromise or finding common ground.

The Public Religion Research Institute poll was conducted from Sept. 16

to 29 among 2,508 adults over the age of 18. It carried a margin of error
of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579160-stunning-survey-gives-

grim-view-of-flourishing-anti-democratic-opinions
Rightists love citing Russia Today (RT.COM) and failed president free
spending mental case trump is their idol.

Soon will be the to round up rightists and russians alike and gass 'em.

Their inferior intelligence AND lies can no longer be tolerated by
patriots.

Kurt Nicklas

2021-11-10 02:11:26 UTC