Reposted from My Substack
By vast numbers, most Americans agree with the predominantly Democratic position that we should maintain a separation of Church doctrine and State governane — and yet we still have loud and vocal movements to restore prayer in public (government) schools, to apply biblical principles to the reading material in schools and to ban abortion and discussion of gay and gender concepts in schools.
73% of Americans say that Religion should be kept separate from government policies.
All of this is because of the Bible, but most Americans don’t agree.
71% of Americans oppose efforts to Ban Books in schools.
By large majorities, American say they oppose recent efforts to remove books from schools and libraries, and say they trust in librarians to make appropriate collection decisions. The news comes from a national poll commissioned by the American Library Association, released this week at the Public Library Association conference in Portland, Ore.
Amid a proliferation of new legislation in some states and an uptick in efforts to ban books nationwide, the ALA poll found that 71% of voters oppose efforts to remove books from public libraries, including majorities of voters across party lines. Furthermore, 74% of parents of public school children expressed “a high degree of confidence” in school librarians to make good decisions about which books to make available to children. The poll also found librarians to be held in high in their communities.
Approximately 53% of Americans believe that teaching about our racist past and slavery is a good thing. Shockingly, a majority of Conservatives disagree.
Details: The survey, conducted July 8-18, found that 53% of adults say increased attention to the country's racist history is a good thing for society, more than a year after nationwide protests erupted in the wake of George Floyd's death. About 26% say it is a bad thing.
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Around 46% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they perceive greater attention to the history of slavery and racism as negative. About 29% saw it as neither good nor bad.
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Among Black adults, 75% said that heightened public attention was positive. Majorities of Asian American (64%) and Hispanic (59%) adults agreed.
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But only 46% of whites surveyed said greater attention to the history of slavery and racism in the U.S. was good for society.
People who say that Abortion should remain safe and legal averages about 62%, which is supported by 84% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans.
A total average of 62% of Americans think some states are making access to reproductive care too hard, including 85% of Democrats and 39% of Republicans.
Despite the argument that we should be a “Pro-Life” nation the rate of Maternal Mortality continues to rise, particularly for African American women.
Pregnancy-related deaths among American women have risen markedly over the past 30 years, despite an overall downward trend worldwide. Many of these deaths are preventable, and the risk remains three to four times higher for black women than white women at all levels of income or education.
Maternal mortality—a key measure of health care quality—is typically defined as the death of a woman during or after a pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. Research reveals that more than 60 percent of these deaths are preventable. It also shows that racial disparities exist for multiple reasons, but many of those factors can be addressed if health care systems improve care quality and access and partner with other societal sectors, such as educational and community organizations.
Some states are tackling the national problem through innovative initiatives anchored in shared action and accountability. For example, California launched the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative in 2006. That effort mobilized multiple health care systems to create data-sharing practices and protocols that could help reduce maternal mortality rates. And the rates in the state declined 55 percent from that year to 2013.
But maternal mortality disparities, notably for African American women compared with all other races, persisted. To address this reality, the collaborative extended its reach in 2019 to include black women-led, community-based organizations, hospitals, and experts by forming the California Birth Equity Collaborative, which is focused on improving birth outcomes for black women.
The broad range of factors beyond the quality of medical care that can contribute to the problem presents significant challenges in addressing maternal mortality. Those factors include gaps in post-birth support and access to care, transportation, housing, education, and other social determinants of health. Finding solutions therefore requires partnerships across various sectors.
So if these people truly care about “protecting innocent life” why don’t they care about those lives?
60% of the nation says that gun violence is a “very big” national problem.
However, the majority of gun deaths in the United States are happening right under the buckle of the Bible Belt, in Red States like Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennesee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Missouri where gun laws tend to be more lax. And yet whenever we have discussions about Gun deaths it’s either about Chicago, New York or Los Angeles where the rate of gun deaths is merely a fraction of those in Red States.
The truth is that most Gun Deaths are not the result of criminal murders, but are in fact Suicides. And who might think that people who might be Gay, Black, Latino or Pregnant from a Rape or Incest just might be more likely to turn to suicide than those in Blue States? I think so.
Gun suicides currently outpace gun murders by 65% to 45%.
Again, do we truly care about saving lives — or do we not?
There is a nearly 50/50 partisan split on creating more safety by increasing or decreasing access to guns which varies wildly by party and location.
But since the majority of gun deaths are suicides, how exactly does increasing access to guns help with that? If you want to prevent the greatest number of gun deaths wouldn’t you want to go after the area where the problem is the greatest?
Also, it would be nice if the people who constantly complain about “mental health” in relation to guns were willing to actually provide mental health care to the people who need it most.
Ultimately though, when you don’t treat Dems and Repubs as equal — which they aren’t — and look at the total population including independents 61% of Americans say obtaining a gun legally is too easy.
An average of 58% of Americans — mostly Women (64%) who may be subject to gun violence from an ex-boyfriend or husband — support more restrictive gun laws.
Speaking of Healthcare, most Americans (83%) feel that the cost of healthcare is too high and that prescription drugs have too many side effects (59%) however, we can’t get major support for transitioning away from privatized insurance which tends to maximize their own profits over providing good care.
Some of those prescription drugs have led to greater incidents of addiction. Drug addiction is seen as a greater problem in Urban (50%) and Rural (46%) communities rather than Suburban (35%)
However, it is Suburban counties that have the highest rate of drug overdoses at 21.1 per 100k residents.
A total of 46% of Americans say that have someone with a current or past problem with drug addiction in their family.
Drug overdoses have risen in recent years, but mostly among White people as the use of Meth and Opiods have risen.
While that area has proven worse for White people overall, there is still a vast difference in the working experience of Black people 41% of whom say they’ve experienced discrimination at the workplace.
Black workers generally earn less than U.S. workers overall, according to BLS data from 2022. Among full-time wage and salary workers, the median weekly earnings for Black workers ages 16 and older are $878, compared with $1,059 for all U.S. workers in the same age group. Among workers of other races and ethnicities in the same age group, the median weekly earnings are $823 for Hispanic workers, $1,085 for White workers and $1,401 for Asian workers. And the differences hold when accounting for education level – Black workers earn less than those in other groups even among workers with bachelor’s or advanced degrees.
Household income for Black Americans has lagged behind that for Americans of other races for several decades, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The unemployment rate for Black Americans is the highest of any racial or ethnic group and roughly double the rate for the U.S. overall, BLS data shows. In 2022, the unemployment rate for Americans ages 16 and older was 3.7% for men and 3.6% for women, according to BLS annual averages. Among Black Americans, the unemployment rate was 6.3% for men and 6.0% for women. This compared with around 3% each for White and Asian men and women and about 4% each for Hispanic men and women.
Monthly unemployment figures showed a record-low unemployment rate for Black Americans in April of this year, but it has begun to tick back up.
As with gaps in household income, Black Americans have experienced higher unemployment rates than their White counterparts for decades. Researchers have identified a variety of factors causing this trend, including racial discrimination and gaps in education, skills and work experience.
Black workers are the most likely to say they’ve experienced discrimination at work because of their race or ethnicity, according to a February 2023 Center survey of U.S. workers. About four-in-ten Black workers (41%) say they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity. Much smaller shares of Asian (25%), Hispanic (20%) and White (8%) workers say the same.
Among Black workers, 48% of men and 36% of women say they’ve experienced discrimination or unfair treatment by an employer due to their race. There are no gender differences among White and Hispanic workers, and the sample size for Asian workers is too small to analyze men and women separately.
51% of people overall support the goals of Black Lives Matter to reduce Police Violence, including 81% of Blacks, 63% of Asians, 61% of Latinos but only 42% of Whites.
In most cases from 60-70% of the public supports the Democratic position on Religion, Book Banning, Teaching Slavery, Abortion, Guns, Drug Addiction, Healthcare and Racist Police Violence.
Maybe it’s time we stop accepting the idea that Democratic ideas are “Radical and Fringe” when they are usually the majority and very mainstream.