Looks like Americans are smarter than the media thinks they are.
An NPR/PBS/Marist poll (not exactly Breitbart there) this week showed a whopping 62% of Americans think “statues honoring leaders of the Confederacy should remain as a historical symbol.” Only 27% favored removing them.
86% of Republicans and 61% of Independents said keep the statues, and Democrats clocked in at 44%, although 52% “soft Democrats” wanted the statues to remain.
This poll says that only the most extremely liberal of Democrats want the statues removed in majority numbers. Majorities of every other political division want them kept as they are.
This was no Republican-slanted poll. 36% identified as Democrats with two-thirds of them “strong Democrats.” Only 26% were Republicans and 37% were independents, with more Democrat-leaning independents than Republican-leaning ones.
44% of African Americans favored keeping confederate statues where they are, and 40% said they should be removed.
Americans also feel that Trump came up short in his response, with only 27% saying it was strong enough and 52% saying it wasn’t strong enough. 59% of Republicans were happy with it, but only 10% of Democrats and 30% of Independents agreed.
Americans haven’t drawn a correlation between confederate statues and white supremacy. Americans disagree with the beliefs of a “white supremacy” movement 86%-4%, only 4% agree with “white nationalists”, 6% agree with the “alt-right” and 5% with “Antifa.”
The Ku Klux Klan has 2% support in the nation, but check this out! 3% of strong Democrats agree with the KKK compared to 1% of strong Republicans. Among political parties, the Democrats have twice as many KKK supporters as the Republicans. The region with the fewest KKK supporters – the South.
Black Lives Matter has 50% support in the country compared to 33% who disagree with their beliefs, according to this poll.
This poll gives President Trump a 35% approval rating, and shows Americans are split on whether protesting has been restricted or expanded. A plurality thought protesting rights are good the way they are.
But the clear message from this poll is that the fringe hate groups are very fringe hate groups, and almost all Americans have completely rejected and disavowed their hatred.
But they are supportive of leaving historical monuments alone.