Are politicians truly sincere about fixing an underlining problem when they raise the issue of race? According to a new Rasmussen poll, most voters say no.
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of Likely U.S. Voters believe most politicians raise racial issues to get elected, while 13% think these issues are raised by politicians who want to address real problems," Rasmussen reports.
We've heard a lot from politicians and media pundits on the subject of race and racial issues in the US. It's an emotional topic that gets voters fired up.
Yet the one thing that has been missing from much of the discussion are solutions -- a point raised by former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson two weeks ago.
"Let’s...turn our outrage into a productive and overdue look at what we can do to place our laws, our rhetoric and our politics squarely on the side of equality under the law," writes Johnson.
READ MORE: Gary Johnson on Charlottesville: Let’s Focus on Solutions, Not Finger Pointing
And it is not just one party or group that is the culprit, either. Both sides do it.
The two-sided narrative in the mainstream media has kept the focus on race relations and racial tensions in the US without actually getting into systemic and institutional problems that the two-party duopoly has failed to address.
So it is understandable that voters think politicians only talk about race to get votes -- to get voters so angry at the other side that they turn out to vote for them or their party.
What do you think?