Maybe we could call them old fashioned – a polite way of putting it.
But a fifth of Utahns supports the flying of a Confederate flag over a public building if that is what the government officials want to do.
The poll for UtahPolicy by Dan Jones & Associates was conducted in July after nine African-Americans were shot dead in their church by young man who declared his racist leanings on web pages where he also posed with the Stars and Bars – the traditional Confederate battle flag from the Civil War.
Jones found that 59 percent of Utahns oppose the flying of the Confederate flag over government buildings, and 20 percent didn’t know.
Perhaps a bit of sensitive racial training could be used in Utah.
Jones polled 610 adults from July 14-21, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.97 percent.
Republicans, “very active” Mormons and those who said they are “very conservative” politically were more favorable to the flying of the Confederate flag on public buildings than other demographic groups.
Although a majority of all groups – except the “very conservative” — opposed the flying of the Stars and Bars.
After the murders, which took place in South Carolina, the governor and legislators of that formerly-Confederate state agreed to remove the flag from a Civil War memorial on the Capitol grounds.
Jones finds:
— 25 percent of Republicans – one-fourth – favored the flag flying, 50 percent opposed, and 20 percent didn’t know.
— 5 percent of Democrats supported the flag flying, 91 percent opposed, and 4 percent didn’t know.
— 19 percent of political independents favored the flag flying over public buildings, 64 percent opposed, and 17 percent didn’t know.
— 34 percent of those who said they were “very conservative” politically – more than a third – favored flying the Stars and Bars, 42 percent opposed, and 24 percent didn’t know.
— And 22 percent of those who classified themselves as “very active” in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints favored the flying of the flag over a public building, 54 percent were against and 24 percent didn’t know.
