Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Next Post: It’s just a bill
Posted in:
* USA Today…
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed [in a new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll] say [the term “woke”] means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.
Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” That’s the view of 56% of Republicans.
I’m not sure that’s the Republican definition because I don’t know if anyone has actually described it that way. When the Eastern Bloc accused Gov. Pritzker of trying to turn Illinois into a “woke utopia,” or when they complained about the “far-left woke ideology that is bankrupting our state,” I don’t think they were talking about policing word usage. But whatevs.
The poll, which is here, found that 71 percent of respondents said they’d heard of the term.
40 percent (60 percent of Republicans) said being called “woke” was an insult, while 32 percent (46 percent of Democrats) said it was a compliment. 26 percent didn’t know what it meant.
A strong 76 percent said they opposed “State governments passing laws that ban certain books from school classrooms and libraries,” while 21 percent supported it.
And 66 percent opposed the idea of “Banning corporations from requiring their employees to complete trainings around diversity, equity, and inclusion,” while 30 supported the ban on corporate DEI.
Also, when asked if they supported or opposed “Allowing people to identify as something other than man or woman on government documents, such as birth certificates, passports, or drivers licenses,” 36 percent of respondents supported it and 61 percent opposed it.
* Keep in mind, though, that the way issues are framed can often determine the result. For instance, when respondents were split into two, 72 percent of the first half supported and 26 percent opposed “Teaching the ongoing effects of slavery and racism in the United States in public schools,” while just 41 percent of the second half supported and 53 percent opposed “Teaching critical race theory in public schools.”
Republicans, by the way, opposed teaching kids about the ongoing effects of slavery and racism 53-46. Democrats supported teaching kids CRT 68-27.
When asked if they supported “Using gender-neutral pronouns to describe someone, meaning not he/him or she/her,” the pollster could have explained what gender-neutral pronouns are (they/them, for instance), but for whatever reason didn’t. Anyway, 61 percent opposed the use and 36 percent supported it.
Methodology is here.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:22 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Next Post: It’s just a bill
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
The opposite of woke is asleep so there’s that.
Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:35 am
I don’t know if this is very useful for Democrats. People have different feelings on these terms, but when you actually explain what someone like Ron DeSantis does, a majority of people say it is crazy. The lesson is to focus on the impact of people’s policies.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:41 am
Woke means to be indoctrinated into the Far Right Wing Ideologic Lifestyle.
Comment by Jerry Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:52 am
–when you actually explain what someone like Ron DeSantis does, a majority of people say it is crazy–
Ya, that explains why he won by 20% last fall
Comment by Anthony Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:54 am
DeSantis did a good interview other day. He articulated how if you push an agenda and work hard you are controversial.
But if you are a politician and fly under the radar, aka do nothing, you are not “controversial”
DeSantis has a lot more support than will be recognized. That was apparent last cycle. And it is also apparent from other states following his lead
Comment by Anthony Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:58 am
===Ya, that explains why he won by 20% last fall===
That’s like saying Jefferson Davis winning by 20% made him more popular than Lincoln. The constituency is the difference.
There’s also a reorganizing by DeSantis to clarify his own idea of “woke”, and if you’re explaining… you’re losing.
To make it about Illinois, looking at Bailey pummeling his counterparts in the primary then getting drubbed in the general, remember, Bailey himself knew… can’t attack the “woke” too much in a general in Illinois, the margin of the kids would increase.
You can use the Google Key yourself to find the DeSantis “explaining”
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 10:59 am
===He articulated how===
Explained away the harsh Right as best he could to been seen by moderates as not too Trumpy, racist thinking, or conspiratorial.
Yep. That’s what it was.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:01 am
==DeSantis did a good interview other day. He articulated how if you push an agenda and work hard you are controversial.==
Could you provide a link to this interview, please?
Comment by The Truth Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:08 am
Is it possible that part of the reason people are moving to Fla is that it has a great climate and is surrounded by water? And many white collar workers can work from home.
Comment by James the Intolerant Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:10 am
People, this post is not about DeSantis. Move on.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:12 am
“Woke”, the “republican”’definition, means you want the gubbamint to tell you what books you can or cannot read.
It’s the anti-thesis of Freedom!
Comment by Jerry Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:16 am
We generally think “woke” is word used by the whacks as a profanity to smear and demean anything that scares them or might give more attention to ideas that undermine their pro-old,white,male views.
Comment by Annonin' Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:23 am
Since Frank Luntz, the GOP has been masterful at using language as a weapon. To me, woke is a coded way of contemptuously saying “College educated and soft on crime.”
Comment by Jocko Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:36 am
These sorts of polls are useful for politicking in a given historic moment, or for political science, communication, and for linguistics studies. They are always snapshot findings. What is woke today will not exist in one or two election cycles. So a new term will need to be created to create the divisiveness necessary to win an election.
What I find interesting is that many lay people and some media personnel do not seem to understand that these political banners are temporal, and thus findings like these mentioned in this study are conditional findings, guaranteed to change over time, across the same population.
Lay Illinoisans in particular seem to treat any referenced survey finding as if they are binary, fixed concepts (e.g., woke people are always woke; liberals are always liberals).
Reifying social constructs and values in this way is always inappropriate (unless the election is today). Time has a way of guaranteeing the relevance of these concepts and findings will ebb and flow.
For example, a problem with these sorts of polls is that they are highly variable over time even within the same population. Think in terms opposition to abortion. Over the past decade, that constructed measure has clearly changed. Or think in terms of opposition to gay marriage, pre- vs. post-obergefell. Pre-Obergefell, one would have predicted the end days. Immediately after the decision, the world did not end and support rose.
All that said, it is reassuring to see that today at least, there are lots of woke people, and that (as a social scientist) wording always matters when constructing survey instruments.
Comment by H-W Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:42 am
“Woke” is a term you’ll hear frequently on FOX News as a derogatory reference. They like it because it’s more snarky than “liberal.” It makes them feel like they’re part of the club when they use it.
If being “woke” means you’re in favor of teaching Black history, I’m happy to be “woke.”
Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:50 am
Anyone see those interviews at CPAC? They asked 50 different people for their definition of “woke” and got 60 different answers.
It’s naught but the latest Republican scare buzz word because polling showed that their hissy fits about CRT were not as effective as they once were. They bounce from buzz word to buzz word in an attempt to scare white people (Muslim terrorists, terrorist fist jab, migrant caravans, trans child predators, etc etc ad absurdum) so they don’t realize that they don’t lift a finger to help anyone that isn’t the donor class. They claim to be against culture war, but that is the only platform they have left. Shameful that it works.
Comment by Commissar Gritty Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:51 am
If they only had a woke flag. White flag blue W
Comment by Rabid Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:53 am
===White flag blue W===
I see what you did there, but if last season and this 25 man roster is any indication, it’ll probably only fly about 65-70 times this summer.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 11:56 am
Question 1:
“Teaching the ongoing effects of slavery and racism in the United States in public schools.”
Question 2:
“Teaching critical race theory in public schools.”
Aren’t these questions about separate, but related subjects? The first asked about the lingering effects of slavery and the continuing existence of racism in the US while the second inquired about one explanation for those two problems. It is not surprising that the questions evoked significantly different answers.
Comment by CapnCrunch Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 12:08 pm
==53 percent opposed “Teaching critical race theory in public schools.”==
Then they’ll be relieved to know that it’s NEVER been taught in public schools. Fox News lied to them (yet again).
Comment by Jocko Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 12:26 pm
“I see what you did there, but if last season and this 25 man roster is any indication, it’ll probably only fly about 65-70 times this summer.“
I know Rich will tell me to move on especially since it was a North Sider’s reference, but I disagree. This bunch will definitely break .500.
To the post:
This is the most important part of that poll. “ Republicans, by the way, opposed teaching kids about the ongoing effects of slavery and racism 53-46. Democrats supported teaching kids CRT 68-27.”
The GOP has maintained that they don’t have an issue teaching about slavery, but as this result makes clear, that exactly the point. Republicans love white-washing the past (pun-intended) and disowning anything that they think makes them look bad. It’s why so many are loving Tucker Carlson white washing January 6th and it’s why they don’t want slavery or racism or Jim Crow or lynching or anything else about America’s dark past taught to kids. It’s not about CRT or Woke. It’s just about knowledge because knowledgeable people who learn history are less likely to repeat it and those that revel in their ignorance are more likely to become Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert.
Comment by New Day Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 1:51 pm
==according to a CPS teacher I know.==
Nothing like a vague anecdote.
Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 3:15 pm
===That may or may not be literally true, but===
Don’t look under your bed, it may or may not be literally true, but there could be a monster there.
See how silly that sounds. Me too.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 3:19 pm
I’m old enough to remember when “snowflake” was the insult of choice. That one didn’t work either.
Comment by Scurvydog Thursday, Mar 9, 23 @ 5:08 pm