No surprise here, especially if you saw any part of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally (also known to many as #Whitestock) this past weekend.
But moments ago, Gallup released its latest survey, titled, “Republicans Remain Disproportionately White and Religious,” which is an examination of the folks who populate the Republican party. If you have been breathing over the past two years, much of this may be of little surprise. But, just like this past February’s Daily Kos survey that, as I wrote back then, “reveals what you may have thought — or feared — about conservatives and the GOP,” the results are an important confirmation, and something the Right hates to use: facts.
Here’s what Gallup has to say:
“About 9 out of 10 Republicans are non-Hispanic whites, and more than half of these are highly religious. That compares with 62% of the Democratic rank-and-file that is white and largely less religious, with blacks and Hispanics making up a much more substantial part of that party’s base.”
And this:
“[R]eligion, along with race, is a significant factor in defining Republicans, independents, and Democrats. Eighty-eight percent of Republicans are white, compared with 71% of independents and 62% of Democrats. The majority of white Republicans are highly religious, while the substantial majority of white Democrats are less religious.”
Read it, and weep:
So here are the obvious problems:
Most Republicans are anti-gay.
Most Republicans are religious or highly-religious.
The more religious someone identifies as, the less-likely they are to support our civil rights, especially marriage.
Obviously, there’s a great deal of analysis we could do with this, but it’s not worth the time investment. We know, despite the slowly-growing, increased acceptance of gay rights we are seeing among some Republicans, the road to winning them over will be long. Worth traveling, but for many, if not the great majority, it will be a race that will last for decades.