The perception of race as a major problem is 16 times greater among ideologues than it is among minorities.

From The Vibes They Are A-Shiftin' by Andrew Sullivan.  The subheading is Bye, Chesa! Bye, Felicia! And much of the ideology they represent?

I keep noting the wide disconnect between the political and power establishment and the average American.  I know the gap is wide but Sullivan's data suggests it is even wider than I suspected.

Recent polling suggests a sea-change in attitudes. Pew found that only three percent of African-Americans put “racism/diversity/culture” as the most important issue to them while 17 percent cited “violence/crime,” and 11 percent said “economic issues.” (Among Democrats overall, “49% now view racism as a major problem, down from 67% about a year ago.”) New York City voters now put “crime” ahead of “racial inequality” as their most urgent concern by a huge ratio of 12:1. Polling in San Francisco found that 67 percent of Asian-Americans wanted Boudin gone — a sign that the Democrats’ ascendant coalition of non-whites is now fast-descendant.

Democrats seeing racism as a major problem a year ago and at 67% doesn't surprise me.  There was a lot of unthinking hysteria going on in academia and the mainstream media.  

But that it should have dropped nearly 20% in one year with only 49% now saying racism is a major problem?  That surprises me.  Still wildly wrong for the most open, tolerant and legally accommodating nation in the world but the estimation is heading in the right direction, down.

But that much movement in a year?  That suggests that this was never about systemic racism.  Systemic racism is . . . systemic.  If Democrats are correctly processing the state of the world and racism is systemic in the US, then there is no way for it to fluctuate more than a percent or two in a given year.  But to drop 18% in a year means that racism is not systemic, it is perceived.  The hysteria was a matter of ideological assertion, not empirical reality.

And only 3% of African Americans seeing racism as being a major issue while 49% of (mostly) non-African American Democrats see it as a major problem?  That is an inconceivable gap.  Well, inconceivable if we are grounded in empirical reality.  If we are not, if all our assertions and whining are based on ideological infatuation, then these numbers do begin to make some sense.  

The Pew study is here.