… In remarks that dovetail Romney’s, VP nominee Paul Ryan indicated that urban, minority turnout was to blame for their loss. These comments reflect a broader theme: that Obama did not understand the problems of white Americans, and primarily focused his policies on the needs or demands of racial minorities. The challenge, of course, is to determine just how many Americans, if any, agree.
It is instructive to go to public opinion data to gauge the depth of distrust people may feel toward the President.
Public Religion Research Institute’s post-election American Values Survey included a “list experiment,” a technique used to give us an estimate of the proportion of the population that believes something they would probably not admit in public. … The statement is a measure of the extent to which Americans believe that “[Barack Obama] doesn’t understand the problems of white Americans.”
Overall, we can estimate that roughly one-fifth of the population believes that statement … but of course there are segments that believe it in much higher proportions. [cont.]
Paul Djupe, Denison U., Public Religion Research Institute