51 Percent in Poll Say He Should Give Up Leadership Post
By Gary Langer
Dec. 16
— A bare majority of Americans — including more than a third within his own party, and more than two-thirds of racial minorities — say Trent Lott should step down as Republican leader of the U.S. Senate.
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Given his comment in support of Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist campaign for president — for which Lott has apologized — 51 percent in an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll say he should give up his leadership post, while 41 percent say he should keep it.
Calls for Lott's resignation are particularly high among blacks — 78 percent — and other racial minorities, among whom 68 percent say he should go. The Republicans have expressed hopes of making inroads among these traditionally Democratic groups.
The poll, conducted Thursday though Sunday, shows no effect of Lott's latest apology at a news conference Friday; support for his departure did not decline after he spoke. ABCNEWS' This Week with George Stephanopoulos reported Sunday that Don Nickles of Oklahoma had become the first GOP senator to question publicly whether Lott can continue to lead his party in the Senate.
The controversy underscores a competitive disadvantage for the Republican Party on the broader issue of civil rights. While 60 percent of Americans say the Republicans are committed to equal opportunity for minorities, that rises to 78 percent for the Democratic Party. Specifically among blacks, just 29 percent think the Republicans are committed to equal opportunity, compared to 67 percent for the Democrats.
At the same time, the Lott controversy does not appear to have damaged the Republican Party's overall favorability rating; at 56 percent, it's precisely the same as the Democrats'. The GOP rating hit a nearly 10-year high last winter, then settled back by midsummer.
As noted, more than two-thirds of racial minorities favor Lott's resignation. Support for his departure also peaks in the West (63 percent), among city dwellers (60 percent), young adults (56 percent) and better-educated Americans (55 percent). Whites divide about evenly; Lott's support is highest, at 52 percent, among conservatives.
Blacks are among the nation's most loyal Democrats, and there's a strongly partisan edge to these views. Sixty-four percent of Democrats say Lott should step aside, while 56 percent of Republicans say he should stay. But 52 percent of independents say he should resign as leader, as do more than one in three Republicans.
Should Lott Resign?
Stay
Go
All
41%
51%
Whites
47%
45%
Blacks
19%
78%
While blacks are the most reliably Democratic voting group in almost any election, Lott's re-election in 2000 was the single most racially polarized Senate race that year. Blacks in his home state of Mississippi voted 87 percent to 11 percent for Lott's Democratic opponent, Troy Brown, while whites voted 88 percent to 9 percent for Lott.
Nationally, blacks are the single most monolithic voting bloc in presidential elections, favoring Democrats over Republicans by at least 6-1 margins (and as much as 10-1) in every contest since 1980.
The political difference between blacks and whites appears to stem from a fundamentally different view of the role of government in society. In the 2000 exit poll, blacks by a 3-1 margin (72 percent-24 percent) said the government should do more to solve problems — more of a traditional Democratic view. Whites by 21 points, 58 percent-37 percent, said government was doing "too much better left to businesses and individuals," more in line with Republican principles.
This ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 12-15 among a random national sample of 1,209 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Field work was done by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.
ABCNEWS polls can be found at ABCNEWS.com on the Internet in:
Poll Vault.
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