# Miscegenation: not in THIS state, mister! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681 "2011-04-25T17:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/41 "2011-04-26T14:25:18Z")
I’ve just read some interesting blog posts about the poll, such as [this one](http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/2011/04/08/do-a-plurality-of-mississippi-republicans-want-to-ban-interracial-marriage/#more-23579), pointing out that the poll was weighted (and that the weighting isn’t actually described with the rest of the methodology). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/42 "2011-04-26T15:21:16Z")
And that it was done via robo-call, allegedly. Does anyone have a link to what the actual poll questions were? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/43 "2011-04-26T15:45:12Z")
[Here you go](http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_MS_0407915.pdf). The question in, uh, question was: > [@](#): > > Do you think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal? > > Legal… 40% > Illegal … 46% > Not sure … 14% ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/44 "2011-04-26T16:00:08Z")
Not to be difficult, but do you have a cite from somewhere a bit more objective? Given that they didn’t mention the weighting of the poll and so on. The blog entry linked to earlier says the interracial marriage question was #14 and unrelated to the previous 13. I would not dismiss this poll out of hand, but I would not simply accept it at face value either. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/45 "2011-04-26T16:15:20Z")
A more objective cite for what the question was? I agree that it’s difficult to draw any conclusions without determining exactly how the question was weighted, but I don’t know where a more relevant citation would exist. It is _their_ poll, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/46 "2011-04-26T16:45:37Z")
Actually my original request was for the actual poll question_ **s** _. I am wondering how much credibility this poll has. For all I know, this might actually have been a push poll, or close to it. As the blogger mentions, there doesn’t seem to be legislation or a push to outlaw interracial marriage in MS, so the poll is not designed to get voter opinions on the issues of the day. So they must have been looking for something else. Maybe they were examining racial attitudes in the Mississippi GOP. That’s fine - why did they embed this question after thirteen unrelated questions? (If that is how it happened.) Maybe this poll demonstrates exactly what it apparently is meant to - the GOP is a hotbed of racism. But essentially we have only Public Policy Polling’s word for it. At the very least, this statement > [@](#): > > 46% of Mississippi Republicans think interracial marriage should be illegal. is not supported by the poll. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/47 "2011-04-26T16:57:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > For all I know, this might actually have been a push poll, or close to it. As the blogger mentions, there doesn’t seem to be legislation or a push to outlaw interracial marriage in MS, so the poll is not designed to get voter opinions on the issues of the day. So they must have been looking for something else. I agree that it’s a bit _odd_, but I don’t think it’s suspicious. I just don’t see how voters can be pushed into opposing interracial marriage by being asked about Haley Barbour first. If you’re saying that they might have asked some other questions in between and not published them, then maybe, but I suspect PPP would have been put out of business years ago if that was the case. [This guy](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/04/can-46-of-mississippi-republicans-favor-banning-interracial-marriage/) compared the numbers to those of Berkeley’s 2002 General Social Survey (when it used to ask about banning interracial marriage) for the East South Central region (basically, the Deep South) and found that its numbers weren’t that far off: > [@](#): > > Liberal 16 > Moderate 28 > Conservative 30 > Democrat 19 > Independent 28 > **Republican 34** He concedes that Mississippi alone would probably have been a shade higher, because it’s the most conservative of the conservative states. As I noted on the previous page, even if the actual numbers are at the bottom of the margin of error _and_ the bottom of the confidence interval, that’s still a third of Republicans. And that seems to jibe with the GSS result. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/48 "2011-04-26T17:00:31Z")
I would bet that if they polled Mississippi voters in general regardless of which primary they voted in, you would get similar results. Mississippi is still a very racially divided state, democrats and republicans alike. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/49 "2011-04-26T19:31:48Z")
I know about a dozen family/friends who live(d) in Mississippi. Based on _that_ sample I’m thinking 54% of the people polled are liars. Of course, I know people in several other states who think interracial marriage is distasteful, so it might be interesting to see what the prevailing attitude is in different regions. Also, to what extent various races are worse to intermarry. ie: White man/Asian woman=eccentric but ok as long as she’s not a native English speaker; Black man/White woman=abomination unto gawd, etc. It would also be interesting to have a choice of “Ok for other people, but I prefer my own kind.” Everyone’s got their own aesthetics. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/50 "2011-04-26T19:47:29Z")
As was pointed out in the other thread, this is probably a function of primary voters being more committed (in this case, more conservative) and older. Publishing only this demographic seems sensationalistic to me. IIRC, there were supposed to be plans to release data on Democrats in the future. However, I’d be more interested in seeing a break down of Republican/Independent/Democrat, rather than one small slice of one party. I suspect you get something like 30% of Republicans, 20% of Independents and 10% of Democrats being against interracial marriage in that state. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/51 "2011-04-26T20:12:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Publishing only this demographic seems sensationalistic to me. Yup. By polling _only_ Republicans, we conjur up the stereotype image of uptight, bible-thumping, faggit-hating White folks. If my recollection of my Southern Experience is correct, it would be interesting to get poll results by race as well. As noted above, this poll suprises me that the “against” is only 46% based on the Whites I know. What we’re not seeing, specifically, is how Blacks feel about it. I seem to recall they weren’t generally enthused about interracial marriage either. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/52 "2011-04-26T20:28:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > As was pointed out in the other thread, this is probably a function of primary voters being more committed (in this case, more conservative) and older. > > Publishing only this demographic seems sensationalistic to me. IIRC, there were supposed to be plans to release data on Democrats in the future. > > However, I’d be more interested in seeing a break down of Republican/Independent/Democrat, rather than one small slice of one party. I suspect you get something like 30% of Republicans, 20% of Independents and 10% of Democrats being against interracial marriage in that state. It’d, indeed, be interesting to see how such a poll shakes out, but since we’re just speculating, I’d be surprised if your 30% number wasn’t comprised solely of Democrats, if the universe we’re considering is Mississippians only, with independents a little higher, and Republicans somewhat higher. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/53 "2011-04-26T20:34:30Z")
[Here is a PDF](http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_MS_0407915.pdf) from PPP themselves with the full question set and breakdowns of the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/54 "2011-04-26T21:12:43Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > What we’re not seeing, specifically, is how Blacks feel about it. I seem to recall they weren’t generally enthused about interracial marriage either. Perhaps, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a black person who feels interracial marriages should be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681/55 "2011-04-26T21:32:12Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Perhaps, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a black person who feels interracial marriages should be illegal. Fair enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscegenation-not-in-this-state-mister/579681.md?page=2)