We have to talk about why there was even a poll asking if it was okay to be white – and we might have to thank Scott Adams for destroying it!

Rasmussen Reports is a polling firm that has been viewed at best as dubious. It is known for a long-standing practice of adjusting its results by party identification and given how observers have taken issue with its lean to the right, it would not be surprising that its results would benefit that side of the proverbial aisle. Theirs would be the only poll that would often give former President Trump an approval rating over 50%, which is probably why it was Trump considered them his “favorite pollster.” In 2020, it was even accused of encouraging then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election in Trump’s favor. On the other side of that spectrum there is how in its daily presidential tracking polls, which throughout the year have consistently placed then-president Obama’s approval numbers around 5 percentage points lower than other polling outfits. This kind of bias did not gone unnoticed by those who monitored polls, Mark Blumenthal, the editor and publisher of Pollster.com providing this point:  “Rasmussen produces a lot of data that appear to produce narratives conservatives are promoting, and that causes a reaction.”

It seems as though Rasmussen attempted to cause yet another reaction that would benefit conservatives with their recent poll regarding whether or not it is okay to be white. The article that reported the poll results was titled “Not ‘Woke’ Yet? Most Voters Reject Anti-White Beliefs”  and the poll surveyed 1,000 American adults on February 13-15, asking two questions. The second question, “Black people can be racist, too” saw results where 79% of Americans agree, 12% disagree. Among black Americans, 76% of agree, 27% disagree, 8% not sure.

It was the first question that generated the most attention however: “Do you agree or disagree with this statement:  ‘It’s OK to be white?’” Although it comes across as a simply worded and benign question, it recalls the slogan of a white supremacist troupe started on the 4chan discussion board in 2017 that attempts to emphasize white victimhood and reinforce a notion that racist whites are inconvenienced in today’s society. Results for this question showed 58% said they “strongly agree” and another 14% said they at least “somewhat agree.” When broken down by race, 81% of Whites, 53% of Blacks and 58% of other races at least somewhat agreed with the statement. To that end, Rasmussen’s article concluded that, “Despite years of progressive activism, a majority of Americans still don’t buy into the “woke” narrative that white people have a monopoly on racism.”

Then Scott Adams chimed in.

The creator of the comic Dilbert has had some controversial stances in the past, be it defending Trump’s remarks after Charlottesville, saying that women are treated differently “for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently or by introducing his first black character last year with a joke at the expense of the transgender community by having that character say they defined themselves as white. That one prompted the first slate of newspapers to drop the comic strip, all of them owned by Lee Enterprises, but he was still being published in over 2000 newspapers in 57 countries and 16 languages. That might have changed over the weekend however.

Unlike Rasmussen, whose poll probably would have possibly been forgotten otherwise. Adams decided on his podcast to focus not on the majority of black people who agreed with the ‘that is ‘okay to be white’ statement but rather the smaller number of 26% that said saying they didn’t agree with the statement and the 21% that that said they were not sure. Combining those numbers he concluded there was a threat to white people. “If nearly half of all Blacks are not okay with white people—according to this poll, not according to me, according to this poll—that’s a hate group, that’s a hate group. and I don’t want to have anything to do with them.” Adams said.

That was when Adams began to encourage other white people to follow suit. “I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams declared. “Just get the fuck away. Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed.” He noted that he moved to an area “with a very low Black population.” He would later attempt to reinforce this call citing Black CNN anchor Don Lemon to justify saying there’s a “correlation” between a “mostly Black” neighborhood and “a bunch of problems he didn’t see” in majority-white areas, and saying he’s “really sick of seeing video after video of Black Americans beating up non-Black citizens,” insisting that it’s “every damn day” he sees a clip of “some Black person beating the shit out of some white person.” He also added a qualifier that moving away from black people should especially be the case when it is “those who don’t want to focus on education,” ironic given the current attempts by local and state governments trying to stifle the teaching of the inclusion of black people in history, most notably in the state of Florida.

“So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” Adams whined. “It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to Black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off. The only outcome is I get called a racist. That’s the only outcome. It makes no sense to help Black Americans if you’re white. It’s over. Don’t even think it’s worth trying.”

Justifiably so, that’s exactly what happened but not only was Adams called out on his racism, on Saturday – which some white supremacist groups declared would be a “Day of Hate” for them where they would mount campaigns against racial, ethnic and religious groups they opposed – it seemed the owners of the newspapers woke up and realized they did not want to be associated and in many ways complicit in Adams’ call for racial separation. By Sunday, 306 newspapers discontinued publication of his Dilbert comic strip, the Cleveland Plain Dealer saying that it was not a difficult decision. “No, this is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve. We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

By Sunday, Andrews McMeel Universal, the syndication company Adams worked with, said they were severing their ties. “We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” they said in a statement found on the company website and Twitter.

Predictably, right wing figures and outlets were running to Adams defense decrying the cancel culture of these outlets but curiously not that of Adams himself. Even Rasmussen retweeted Adams’ tweet noting where to find his comic when all his media outlets are gone. One exception however might be a little known conservative commentator named Christian Watson who despite a history that included supporting neo-fascist comedian Alex Adams when he and Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes when they attempted and failed to hold an event at Penn State. Watson, himself a black man, was incensed not just over the comments but also because of how Adams in his words pretended not to have even made the remarks, remarks Watson noted he was watching live as he said them.

Unless right-wing media outlets choose to pick it up, it is unlikely many will see the Dilbert comic strip again anytime soon. Adams doesn’t seem to mind. He made his money and can now rant and rave about everyone he hates on his podcast to whomever cares to listen and live comfortably doing so. He no longer has to deal with any of those he hates, especially black people – whom he also repeatedly and correctly referred to as the “winning team.” Perhaps society is more woke than Rasmussen originally surmised.