Preferences Politics in America

Donald Trump supports his campaign to be the Republican nominee for President appealing to racist instincts among white voters (many of whom are crossover voters from the Democrat Party). I saw the following tweet today that supports this charge.

Crucial new polling analysis: Trump's supporters think blacks/Latinos are getting over on whites: https://t.co/A3qS7xCOkC

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 23, 2016

The poll asked, "Which of these is the bigger problem in this country - (blacks and Hispanics losing out because of preferences for whites), or (whites losing out because of preferences for blacks and Hispanics)?" A 54% majority of Trump supporters answered that the biggest problem is whites losing out to blacks and Hispanics.

I was a little surprised to see that Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich voters gave the same answer by a fairly large minority,  but then I considered the question and realized that the question offers a false choice. What if the respondent thought that neither option was a big problem? Then his answer would have to be based on which option was not the smallest problem.

As a Republican I am opposed to giving preferences to anyone based on race. So to me, that I would be asked this question at all would be a bigger problem than either of the options.