Republicans, Democrats Are Split Over Which Groups Face … – msnNOW

December 24, 2022 News Editor

WASHINGTON—Voters are sharply divided by political party over which groups of Americans face discrimination, a Wall Street Journal poll finds, with more than 80% of Democrats saying that Black, Latino, gay and Jewish people face prejudice while a majority of Republicans say discrimination is more often aimed at white people and Christians.

The survey results show that Republicans and Democrats use different lenses to view the challenges and privileges of various groups in American society, which in turn explains some of the emotional heat fueling a series of recent political clashes over race, gay rights and religious liberty.

Voters in the two parties are divided, for example, over whether Black or white Americans face the bigger problems with discrimination. Some 59% of Republicans in the Journal survey said that white people face discrimination or prejudice, compared with 21% of Democrats who said so. By contrast, 88% of Democrats said Black people face discrimination or prejudice, compared with 49% of Republicans who said so.

Such results help to explain the heightened feelings around debates over classroom teaching about race and discrimination. At least a dozen states, mostly led by Republicans, have passed laws or issued rules regulating classroom teaching on race and gender, with some including provisions that bar teaching that the U.S. is fundamentally racist or that a person, by virtue of his or her race, should feel guilt because of past actions by members of that race. Opponents have said the laws inhibit teachers from presenting the history of racial oppression in America.

Advocates for gay rights and for some religious groups clashed in recent weeks over legislation codifying the right to same-sex marriage, which President Biden signed into law this month. The bill won support from all Democrats in both the House and Senate, along with some Republicans. But many of the 36 GOP senators and 169 House Republicans who opposed the bill said it didn’t sufficiently protect religious groups that don’t recognize same-sex marriage from legal challenges.

In the Journal survey, a large share of Republicans—some 61%—said discrimination is a problem for Christians in America, while only 25% of Democrats agreed. At the same time, 85% of Democrats, but 38% of Republicans, said gay and lesbian Americans face discrimination.

“People of faith are now the ones being discriminated against,” said Ted Kissel, 76 years old, a poll participant who believes Christians face increasing prejudice. “There doesn’t seem to be any space in the public square for anybody of faith.”

Mr. Kissel, a retired pilot who lives outside Cincinnati, said marriage law should be handled by the states, not Congress, and he objected to efforts to ask people who don’t believe in same-sex marriage to provide services for same-sex weddings, an issue now before the Supreme Court. “I’m not one to wear my religion on my sleeve, but it feels to me as if they’re coming after us,” he said.

Others say that people should be able to marry same-sex partners as a matter of equality, and that state antidiscrimination laws compel businesses open to the public to treat people equally, without regard to sexual orientation. “It would be wrong to say that my husband, Phil, and I have a marriage that is any different than anyone else’s marriage here in this body,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) said as the House voted on the same-sex marriage bill.

The two parties also had different views of the extent of prejudice against Jews. Some 81% of Democrats said prejudice against Jews is a problem in the country, including 50% who called it a major problem. Among Republicans, 49% saw a problem, including 18% who called it a major problem.

Last month, Democratic leaders and many Republicans were quick to denounce former President Donald Trump for having dinner at his Florida home with rapper Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, both of whom have promoted antisemitic views. Some GOP leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), drew criticism for being late to comment on the dinner and for condemning Mr. Trump’s dining companions but not the former president himself for hosting them.

Gladys Perry, a poll participant who works in a nursing home and rehabilitation facility, said she thought prejudice was rising against many groups in society. “White people, Black people, gay people, different ethnicities—everybody just seems so uptight,” said Ms. Perry, 67, who is Black and lives in Camden, N.J. “I think it’s that different races think their needs are being met and other races feel like they are not.”

Ms. Perry said she hadn’t experienced discrimination in her own life, but she felt that schools should teach the nation’s history of slavery and discrimination, even if some white students feel uncomfortable. “Maybe it would make people more human,” she said. “I never learned it in school when I was young. Teaching about slavery is not to hate white people. It’s moving forward and learning to live with each other.”

Jim Wolverton, a poll respondent who lives in a suburb of Jackson, Miss., said he felt more prejudice directed at people like himself in recent years. “I do believe that white males in this country, there’s more prejudice against them than any other group,” he said. “I believe that we are being framed to be the creator of most of society’s ills.”

“I have no problem with making sure that disadvantaged people have a leg up—I think that’s great. That’s American,” said Mr. Wolverton, who is 65 and a retired contractor. But he was concerned about talk of offering reparations to Black people—“that’s dead wrong, in my opinion”—and about the removal of statues of historical figures, including some connected to slavery, who helped found the country.

The Journal survey found that Americans were divided far more by political party than by race or age when asked which groups face discrimination. Black respondents, however, stood out in one way: They were more likely than white or Latino respondents to say that various groups faced discrimination. More Black respondents in the survey, some 72%, said discrimination was a problem for Latino people than the 59% of Latino respondents who said so about themselves.

Michael Tesler, a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, said the finding was consistent with research that found that Black Americans were most likely to see racism as structural in society and to see signs of discrimination against other groups.

Ray Acebo, a physician in Corpus Christi, Texas, who is Latino, said he thought that Latino people faced discrimination, and that Black people faced even more. But he said the bigger fault line in the country was economic.

“I think prejudice at this point is overstated,” he said. “There is some, but it’s not a major issue for the nation. Socioeconomic status has more of an effect on success and on education, which is typically what makes you successful.”

The Wall Street Journal Poll surveyed 1,500 voters from Dec. 3-7 by landline phone, cellphone and through text invitations to take the poll online. The margin of error for 624 Democrats in the poll was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points and 4 points for the 606 Republicans in the survey.

Write to Aaron Zitner at aaron.zitner@wsj.com