Face of Nation : Most Americans believe white nationalism poses at least a somewhat serious threat to the country,The survey was taken in the wake of the El Paso, Texas, shooting, carried out by a gunman with white nationalist sentiments, and close to the second anniversary of 2017′s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
A 56% majority of Americans say that white nationalism poses a somewhat or very serious threat to the U.S., similar to the 57% who said it posed such a threat following the Charlottesville rally, and up from the 46% who said the same last August. Thirty-seven percent currently call white nationalism a “very” serious threat, up from 32% immediately following Charlottesville and a low of 26% last year.
There’s a significant racial gap in the level of concern: Black Americans are 27 percentage points likelier than white Americans to say it’s a very serious threat. But there’s an even broader partisan gap ― one that’s widened in the past two years, almost entirely from rising concerns among Democrats. In 2017, Democrats were 30 percentage points likelier than Republicans to call white nationalism a very serious threat. Today, that divide has grown to 49 points.
Trump condemned “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” in a public comment following the shooting, but didn’t acknowledge the way his own anti-immigration rhetoric was echoed in the El Paso shooter’s manifesto. In rallies held since 2017, Trump has used the words “predator,” “invasion,” “alien,” “killer,” “criminal” and “animal” more than 500 times while discussing immigration, according to USA Today. As in previous polling, about half the American public considers Trump to be a racist and an inciter of racial tensions, with a minority of Americans coming to his defense. In the latest poll, Americans say, 47% to 38%, that President Trump is racist, and 52% to 37% that he has inflamed racial divisions in the country. Only about a quarter say they believe Trump personally opposes white nationalism, while 44% say he personally supports it, and the rest that he doesn’t have a strong opinion either way.
