Race and the politics of health reform, by the numbers

In a 2008 survey, percent of whites with above-average racial resentment who favor a public health insurance option: 19

Percent of whites with below-average racial resentment who favor the public option: 45

Percent of whites with above-average racial resentment who say people should either buy their own health insurance or get it through work: 57

Percent of whites with below-average racial resentment who say the same thing: 25

Date on which conservative Fox News host Glenn Beck called the health reform bill "the beginning of reparations" for African Americans: 7/22/2009

Date on which Investors Business Daily linked health reform to reparations, in an editorial that also called it "affirmative action on steroids": 7/27/2009

In a 2008 presidential race poll, Barack Obama's lead over Republican Sen. John McCain among white Democrats with high scores on the Racial Resentment Index: 18 points

In that same poll, Hillary Clinton's lead over McCain among racially resentful white Democrats: 59 points

Portion of these racially resentful voters who lived in the South: 46%

Portion who were under the age of 40: 18%

Portion who were over the age of 60: 44%

Percent of voters under 50 who generally favor health insurance reforms being put forth by Democrats: 57

Percent of voters over 65 who do: 37

Partisan advantage enjoyed by Democrats among seniors before last year's election according to several polls: 12 points

Percentage points by which President Obama trailed among older voters than among the electorate as a whole during that election: 8

Percent by which former Democratic President Bill Clinton did better among seniors than overall: 200

Date on which former Democratic President Jimmy Carter said he thought an "overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity" toward Obama in the current political debate was based on his race: 9/15/2009

Date on which Obama's press secretary said the President doesn't think criticism of his policies is "based on the color of his skin": 9/16/2009

Date on which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi compared heated rhetoric over Obama's health reform proposals to rhetoric heard preceding the political violence in 1970s San Francisco: 9/17/2009

(Click on figure to go to the original source. Photo by cometstarmoon from Wikimedia Commons.)