From: F. Joe Wheeler [Email him]
The recent GOP betrayal of Confederate heritage in Mississippi happened in spite of a public poll just before the vote, probably biased in favor of dropping the flag, which showed that a narrow margin favored keeping the flag [Mississippi Lawmakers Vote to Retire State Flag Rooted in the Confederacy, by Rick Rojas ,NYT, June 28, 2020]. The last time this came up, in 2001, they had a referendum, which favored keeping the flag by a considerably greater margin than a poll at that time.
I think they may have somehow avoided a referendum. One proposal promised to put “In God We Trust” on a new flag, which is how they sold it in Georgia—Georgia's 2003 non-Confederate flag has In God We Trust beneath the seal in pretty fine print.
If they don’t have a referendum, that is a bigger betrayal. The Mississippi Republican Party is dominated by the Chamber of Commerce. You can see that in the lack of conservative principles and general spinelessness of many Republican office holders, also in some of the primary election tactics borrowed from the Democrats.
I am seeing a bit of push back on my Facebook page, which is not favorable to Republican legislators who “betrayed” them, and maybe also unfavorable to Mississippi Republicans in general.
The general election in Mississippi will be about supporting Trump, and I am confident he will win Mississippi, but he could be hurt by association with some Republicans and lower turnout by disgruntled Republicans. A large rally featuring the Governor and other local Republicans could be problematic.
James Fulford writes: Of course, we covered this in the early part of this century. See
It's also not surprising that in the privacy of the voting booth, Mississippians voted for Southern Heritage at greater numbers than they would admit to pollsters:
Just spitballing here, but it seems to me that if you can be professionally ostracized and/or publicly condemned for liking a Trump tweet, there’s a real possibility that people are not being upfront with pollsters.
— Erielle Azerrad (@politicalelle) June 29, 2020
