🚀 go-pugleaf

To: SOS-DATA

                            THE SOUTHERN FOCUS POLL
                     Southerners Reconciled to Appomattox
         Secessionist movements around the world leave U.S. untroubled

"Do you agree or disagree that:  If it could be done without war, the South
would be better off as a separate country today."
TOTAL DISAGREE          86%         Strongly disagree       62.7
                                    Disagree                17.8
                                    Slightly disagree        5.9
NOT SURE                 5          Not sure                 5.2
                                    Slightly agree           2.7
                                    Agree                    2.3
TOTAL AGREE              8          Strongly agree           3.4

Six out of seven do not agree that the South would be better off if it
seceded
today; most of them disagree "strongly."  Only one in twelve agrees (five
percent aren't sure).  Agreement was lower in the peripheral South (7%),
among
migrants to the region (5%), whites (7%), the college-educated (5%), those
with incomes over $40,000 (5%), and those over 65 years of age (6%).
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"Do you agree or disagree that:  The South would be a lot better off if it
had
won the War Between the States."
TOTAL DISAGREE          66%         Strongly disagree       37.9
                                    Disagree                17.9
                                    Slightly disagree        9.9
NOT SURE                18          Not sure                17.5
                                    Slightly agree           5.3
                                    Agree                    5.2
TOTAL AGREE             17          Strongly agree           6.3

Two-thirds do not agree that the South would be better off if it had won;
more
than half of those "strongly" disagree.  The other third are evenly split
between 17 percent who agree and 18 percent who aren't sure.  Agreement was
lower in the peripheral South (15%), among migrants to the region (10%),
whites (15%), men (15%), those over 65 (10%), the college-educated (13%),
and
those with incomes over $40,000 (13%).
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John Shelton Reed, director of the Institute for Research in Social
Science:
      "Even these numbers probably overstate the support for Southern
      independence.  Apparently many people hadn't given much thought to
these
      questions before we asked them, and some of those who gave us
opinions
      were just trying to be obliging.  When that happens people are more
      likely to agree than to disagree, just to be polite.  I think that's
      behind some odd patterns in the data, like the fact that blacks are
      somewhat more likely than whites to agree."
Why is there so little support?
      "Only 4% of these respondents disagreed with the statement, 'All
things
      considered, the United States is the best country in the world to
live
      in.'  It may be ironic, but by most measures the South is now the
most
      patriotic region of the country."
Can we stop saving our Confederate money?
      "Obviously public opinion has something to do with the growth of
      secessionist movements, but it's not the only factor.  In 1962, a
survey
      of French-Canadian citizens of Quebec showed only 8% in favor of the
      separation of Quebec from Canada.  Look what's happened there in 30
      years."  (Source: Maurice Pinard, The Rise of a Third Party
[Montreal,
      1975])
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Based on telephone interviews with 819 adults in 13 Southern states, in
March
and April of 1992.  The Southern Focus Poll is conducted twice a year by
the
Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, in cooperation with the Center for the Study of the American
South.  For information about the poll, call Dr. Beverly Wiggins at (919)
966-2350.