Last week, after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, a Yahoo News/YouGov survey attempted to nail down the notion of ''discrimination'' through this poll question:
''Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Discrimination against white people has become as big a problem as discrimination against black people in the U.S.''
According to Mediaite, 64% of respondents who identify as Republicans say racial discrimination against white people is ''as big a problem'' as discrimination against Blacks.
Among those identifying as supporters for former President Donald Trump, 73% agreed that ''discrimination against white people has become as big a problem as discrimination against black people in the U.S.''
The poll also showed that 66% of Republicans and 69% of Trump voters are concerned ''that native-born Americans are losing economic, political, and cultural influence in this country to immigrants.''
In some circles, it's known as the ''great replacement theory.''
The theory holds that in the U.S., ''an elite cabal of Jews and Democrats is 'replacing' white Americans with Black, Hispanic and other people of color by encouraging immigration and interracial marriage – with the end goal being the eventual extinction of the white race,'' according to The Guardian.
According to Mediaite, the above figures represent a sharp increase from a similar study published before the Buffalo shooting.
The most recent poll results didn't include the racial makeup, geographies, financial status or age ranges of the self-identified Republicans.
It didn't address the dictionary definition of ''racism,'' which covers ''prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.''
It also didn't cover how states such as New York and California have incurred sizable population losses in recent years (mostly to Florida and Texas).
Or how Florida's population keeps growing and the state keeps churning out more prospective voters registering as Republicans.
Other notable findings from the survey include:
- ''More than three-quarters (77%) of [President Joe] Biden voters ... selected racism as one of the issues that 'played a role' in the Buffalo shooting. Only 42% of Trump voters say the same — roughly the same number (40%) who select 'liberal media (such as MSNBC)' as a contributing factor.''
- When asked to choose which of eight issues played the biggest role in the Buffalo shooting, most Trump voters chose mental illness (56%), followed by racism (15%), and liberal media (14%). Just 2% said ''too many guns.''
- A ''plurality of Biden voters selected racism (39%), followed by 'conservative media (such as Fox News)' (27%), mental illness (14%), and too many guns (10%).''