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> Kalmoe and Mason found that nearly one out of five Republicans and Democrats agree with the statement that their political adversaries “lack the traits to be
by nostromo 5y ago
> Kalmoe and Mason found that nearly one out of five Republicans and Democrats agree with the statement that their political adversaries “lack the traits to be considered fully human — they behave like animals.”
> Their line of questioning did not stop there. How about: “Do you ever think: ‘we’d be better off as a country if large numbers of the opposing party in the public today just died’?”
> Some 20 percent of Democrats (that translates to 12.6 million voters) and 16 percent of Republicans (or 7.9 million voters) do think on occasion that the country would be better off if large numbers of the opposition died.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/opinion/hate-politics.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/opinion/hate-politics.htm...
- dash2 5y agoI dunno man. This is indeed scary, but I wouldn't take it literally. I would translate it more as: "when asked by a pollster, 'do you ever think [etc.], 20 percent of Democrats said 'yes'". Whether they ever really think that... Well now, what does "really think" mean? If they had the chance to painlessly euthanize several millions of the other side, would they do it? Or does "really think" mean "gosh sometimes I get really angry and I - I just wish those scumbags were dead!" By that standard, I "really think" that it would be better if some of the drivers of my home town just died.
- potatoman22 5y agoI'm not sure we can make those assumptions given we only have access to their poll responses, not the inner workings of their minds.
- jgeada 5y agoHave any of you ever answered a poll? And answered truthfully? I'm inherently suspicious of most polls because everyone I know either refuses to participate in polls or deliberately lies to the pollster, either for fun or to get taken off the spam call list.