Republican pollster Frank Luntz said on Friday that President Trump’s voters are “tired” of being accused of being sexist and racist.
In a discussion about Trump’s remarks linking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices to the DC plane crash this week, Luntz suggested that Trump’s concern reflected a broader sentiment among GOP voters.
“I surveyed these people. I focus-grouped them, and they are really, really tired of being accused of either racism or sexism because they voted for Donald Trump, and it’s one of the reasons why so many of them did,” Luntz said in a panel discussion on CNN’s “NewsNight” with Abby Phillip.
“I sat on this stage with you and got chewed out when I suggested there’s a better language to reach out to voters, that there’s, that the Harris campaign is missing what they’re looking for,” Luntz continued.
“I say the same thing here. Americans just want to be Americans, not hyphenated Americans, not female Americans, Black Americans, Jewish Americans. They just want to be Americans.
Other panelists on CNN noted that the discussion only centered on race because the president first mentioned the issue. Some also criticized him for suggesting DEI practices could have played a role in the crash, without pointing to any evidence. Luntz stressed he was not defending the president but was describing the mindset of his voters.
Trump, at a press conference Thursday, knocked his Democratic predecessors over aviation standards, suggesting that the Democrats didn’t put safety first and that diversity initiatives have weakened the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Pressed by reporters on how he could conclude that diversity had something to do with the crash, Trump said, “Because I have common sense, okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”
“We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. When you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they’re all coming in different directions, and you’re dealing with very high-level computer, computer work and very complex computers.”
The cause of the crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter Wednesday night is still unknown, and investigative authorities have not publicly indicated who could be responsible for the crash.
