Pretty stunning findings about people's authoritarian tendencies in today's @TheMeredithPoll results
11% said they don't support any form of protest, even peaceful marches--and more than 1 in 5 said they oppose protests at government buildings specifically #ncpol
The poll also found that nearly 75% of people support what sounds like a type of moral relativism in which there is no right or wrong. But nearly two-thirds also want a strong leader who will crush some undefined "evil" in society
The poll also shows that people are inherently contradictory (or simply not paying attention to the questions)
For instance 58% said "old fashioned values" are the best way to live, but 62% said "Our country needs free thinkers who have the courage to defy traditional
ways."
🤔
Plus when the pollsters asked people basically the exact same question about the value of those who question traditional values (but called them "troublemakers" instead of "free thinkers") support dropped from 62% to 39%
They say if you look up to the stars on a clear night, you can still see Prince's guitar suspended in the sky, from when he threw it at the end of his solo
Solos on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, ranked:
3. Clapton (the original) 2. Prince 1. Paul Gilbert is a god among men
NC Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell is set to start speaking to a House committee any moment now (audio and video at ncleg.gov/LegislativeCal…)
She's there to give a recap of 2020 and a look ahead to the near future #ncpol#ncga
Yesterday the @NCSBE voted to recommend moving back a bunch of elections this year, as well as the 2022 primaries, due to problems the federal government is having with the Census (since we need to redistrict everything, ASAP). @_lucysherman wrote about it newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
Some background: Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson was reprimanded by the U.S. DOJ in 2012 for numerous constitutional violations + an "egregious pattern of racial profiling." He was then re-elected twice, in 2014 and 2018, after no one ran against him justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…
However, later on in 2016, the DOJ and Alamance County reached a settlement over this issue. The DOJ dropped legal action in exchange for the sheriff agreeing for his deputies to undergo bias training and more justice.gov/crt/file/88640…
Lots of attention paid to Trump/Biden and Tillis/Cunningham of course, but control of the state legislature is up for grabs this year too. Here's a good @ludkmr primer on which races to watch in the NC Senate carolinapublicpress.org/39140/nc-senat…#ncpol#ncga
And here's a story I wrote, 364 days ago, on how if Biden and Trump run at a virtual 50-50 tie here, Republicans will likely hold onto the state legislature. Democrats likely need a substantial Biden win here to take back the #NCGAnewsobserver.com/news/politics-…
Story today from @_lucysherman on the record Republicans are running on now--after a decade in power, following a century of Democratic control
(although of course the Democratic Party of most of the 20th Century looks a lot like the GOP of today) newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
My article goes into a few possible reasons for this--from them growing up in an age of social media misinformation, and a president who often seems at war himself with the electoral process, to a pretty overwhelming sense that the Electoral College means their votes don't matter
In fact, while younger voters are more likely to think we should get rid of the Electoral College, the poll found less than 1/3 of NC voters *of all ages* like the Electoral College.
A majority (51%) said we should switch to a popular vote, and the other 20% weren't sure #ncpol
Adding one piece of historical context here: The massacre happened in early November, just after the election, because a pre-election campaign of voter suppression and intimidation was deemed by political and business leaders to have not been successful enough #ncpol
And it worked. After killing a bunch of people and forcing the elected town council to resign at gunpoint, the mob leader appointed himself mayor, and nobody did anything about it