MTSU POLL: One In Six Tennesseans Admit To Telling Racist Jokes About The President

By Kleinheider Posted on March 3, 2009 at 11:58 am

The newest poll on state and national issues in Tennessee is out from our friends over at Middle Tennessee State University complete with charts and graphs. Some of the more interesting findings below.

THE LEGISLATURE: “Meanwhile, the proportion of Tennesseans who approve of the state Legislature’s job performance has slid from 39% in the fall to 34%. The last time the Legislature’s approval rating sank this low was in fall 2005 and spring 2006, when Tennesseans were absorbing news of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “Operation Tennessee Waltz” sting that led to the arrests of several legislators on bribery charges….The best predictor of disapproval is frequent newspaper reading.”

RACIST JOKES: “Nearly one in six Tennesseans has told a joke about Barack Obama’s race, and three-fourths say they’ve heard or read at least one, even though only 15 percent of Tennesseans say they would find such a joke funny.”

IRAQ: “Just over half (53 percent) of Tennesseans say sending troops to Iraq was “a mistake,” while 38 percent say the move was not a mistake, and the rest aren’t sure.”

WINE IN GROCERY STORES: “Sixty-two percent of state residents say grocery stores should be allowed to sell wine, while just over a quarter (26%) disagree, and 12% don’t know.”

BREDESEN: “Gov. Phil Bredesen’s approval rating has slipped to 52%, down from 58% in the fall and well below his tenure’s high of 72% in Spring 2004.”

“Among demographic factors, education makes the biggest difference, with under half (45%) of Tennesseans without a college degree expressing approval of Bredesen compared with nearly two-thirds (64%) of those with a college degree.”

STATE INCOME TAX: When asked to choose between the two statements: “Tennessee should amend its constitution to forbid the state from ever introducing a tax on personal income” and “Tennessee should introduce a tax on personal income to lower sales taxes and eliminate taxes on groceries,” 46% of Tennesseans support constitutionally banning a state income tax, and 40% support introducing a state income tax with cuts in sales and food taxes.

ABORTION: A majority of Tennesseans (52%) say abortion “should be legal under some circumstances, but not others.” Smaller percentages say either that abortion should be illegal under all circumstances (25%) or legal under all circumstances (19%).

OBAMA: Fifty-three percent of Tennesseans say that they approve of how President Barack Obama has done his job so far, and only 27% of Tennesseans disapprove. In the 2008 election, 57% of Tennessee voters cast their ballots for Obama’s Republican rival, John McCain, while only 42% voted for Obama

SEE ALSO:
Sean Braisted
R. Neal

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Tags: abortion, Barack Obama, MTSU, MTSU Poll, MTSU survey, Phil Bredesen, President Obama, racial politics, racist jokes, State income tax, state legislature, wine in grocery stores  

Why Ask Why

By Kleinheider Posted on October 20, 2008 at 7:56 am

Newscoma tells us what she thinks about those who think that Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama had something to do with race:

I think it’s narrow-minded to automatically dismiss that Powell endorsed Obama strictly on the race issue.

I’ve never seen him endorse Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson, have you? So the race issue doesn’t wash with me in Powell’s decision. He has one vote, he told you who he was voting for and he told you why.

And that’s that.

SEE ALSO: Mark Mays

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Tags: Barack Obama, Colin Powell, endorsement, race, racial politics, racial solidarity  

The Fall Of The Machine

By Kleinheider Posted on July 31, 2008 at 4:33 pm

Jackson Baker on why support from the Ford family for Nikki Tinker’s insurgent campaign against Rep Steve Cohen may not mean as much as it used to:

Ford Sr.’s power had always been based as much on keeping governmental channels open for influential whites in the larger community as on keeping the faith with his black constituents. His very legal predicament had stemmed from a long-term association with C.J. and Jake Butcher, the white East Tennessee bankers whose financial collapse and prosecution by the government had muddied Ford’s own waters.Tinker, who was the largely nominal campaign manager for Harold Ford Jr. in at least one of his uncontested election victories, no doubt hopes for some substantial intervention by the Fords on her behalf. And, in fact, one of the intriguing revelations of the second quarter’s financial disclosures was that Harold Ford Jr.’s wife had maxed out her contributions on Tinker’s behalf.

But the fact of the matter is that 9th District politics, like the Fords themselves, may have moved on to that post-racial world Wharton spoke of. Early voting totals in inner-city precincts have not thus far suggested anything like the saturation-style, directed voting of the past — perhaps because, in that part of the 9th District, as elsewhere, race may no longer be the single determinant factor it once was.

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Tags: Harold Ford, Nikki Tinker, racial politics, Steve Cohen