Michelle Goldberg says that "many low-income African-Americans are solidly in the conservative camp regarding school vouchers."
This may be true, but she fails to define "many" and it is therefore a meaningless statement. 1, 2, 3, several, many..
According to exit polls in California and Michigan where the voucher issue was on the ballots:
For California (proposition 38):
Yes No
White 30 70
Black 32 68
Asian 34 66
Latino 23 77
For Michigan (Proposal 1):
Yes No
White 31 69
Black 23 77
Urban voters didn't vote any different than suburban voters - 30/28 urban/suburban 'yes' in California, 27/36 in Michigan.
I really hate this kind of journalism, which is incredibly common. Take a "liberal" position. Find "some" (or "many") minority voters who take a different position. Frame it in such a way to imply that white liberals and the minority leadership are on the wrong side of the issue and conservatives are actually on the side of the minorities. Don't provide any poll data (even though in this case there is some) to support that you are talking about anything other than a minority of minority voters. Rinse. Repeat.
She does provide this paragraph:
Demore-Brown's comments underlie the fact that, despite charges that they're merely pawns of the right wing, many voucher advocates are genuine advocates for the poor and for civil rights. In fact, though leaders of mainstream black organizations tend to oppose vouchers, polls show that a majority of black people (a majority of whom are Democrats) support them.
Though I have seen polls showing a slim majority of African-Americans supporting vouchers, I have also seen the opposite. And, at the ballot box when it really matters, the above numbers speak for themselves.
