Black Americans fear more racist attacks after Buffalo shooting

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Three-quarters of Black Americans are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race, according to a nationwide Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket, allegedly targeting members of the mostly Black neighborhood.

The Post-Ipsos poll of Black Americans finds most are saddened and angered by the attacks, but just 8 percent say they are “surprised.” …

A 70 percent majority of Black Americans think at least half of White Americans hold white supremacist beliefs, 75 percent of Black Americans say white supremacists are a “major threat” to Black Americans, and 66 percent say white supremacy is a bigger problem today than it was five years ago. CONTINUED

Silvia Foster-Frau, Arelis R. Hernández, Scott Clement & Emily Guskin, Washington Post

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Nativist nation

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This week saw some political wins (and some losses) for a political worldview promoted by former President Trump and now being promulgated by the candidates he has endorsed in the primaries.

Jarringly, these political wins come on the back of the Buffalo massacre that marked one of the most violent racially motivated attacks in decades and sent reverberations through much of the country. The murderer was an adherent of “replacement theory”; a white supremacist belief system that pushes the idea that immigration, interracial marriage, integration, and violence will replace white people.

Our research shows a strong correlation between nativist and white grievance attitudes. We have begun to think of them as an attitudinal syndrome—one comes with the other. CONTINUED

Clifford Young & Sarah Feldman, Ipsos

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Keeping tabs on the most popular – and unpopular – candidate positions in the NBC poll

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… Tackling inflation and high prices are among the most popular positions and qualities a 2022 candidate can have. And the least popular are wanting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, being endorsed by either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, and believing Trump won in 2020.

These are the findings from our combined March and May NBC News polls, which tested the popularity of more than two dozen different candidate positions or qualities heading into November’s midterm elections. CONTINUED

NBC News

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Americans Divided on Nuclear Energy

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Americans are evenly split on whether nuclear energy should be a source of electricity in the U.S., with 51% in favor and 47% opposed. Three years ago, the two camps were tied at 49%, while in 2016, the majority (54%) opposed nuclear power.

Americans’ relatively limited support for nuclear energy in recent years contrasts with more solid backing from 2004 to 2015, when majorities of between 53% and 62% favored it. CONTINUED

Lydia Saad, Gallup

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Polling on Abortion Opinion Misses How Much Would Be Tossed Out With Roe

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Politico on May 2 released Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft abortion position, signed by four additional justices, that would overturn Roe v. Wade. …

The Alito draft does not just overturn the main finding of Roe, that women generally have a right to an abortion in the first six months of pregnancy (until “viability”). Alito’s draft reasoning goes beyond that, denying that pregnant people have any rights under any circumstances to terminate a pregnancy, except those explicitly granted to them by the state. …

Given the impact of the proposed Supreme Court decision, the standard polling questions on abortion are mostly beside the point. CONTINUED

David W. Moore, FAIR

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Increasingly negative views on national outlook and economy

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Americans are increasingly negative about the direction of the country and the condition of the national economy. President Joe Biden’s approval rating dropped slightly over the past month to the lowest point of his presidency so far, with 39% approving now compared with 45% in the AP-NORC poll conducted in April.

Twenty-two percent describe the national economy as good, also the lowest of Biden’s presidency. Worries about inflation, already high in March, have increased.

Most Americans, 78%, agree the county is moving in the wrong direction. That’s up from 70% in the April AP-NORC poll. The increase in the dire outlook was driven mainly by Democrats. Since Biden’s inauguration, few Republicans have been positive about the direction of the country. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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