Ocasio-Cortez: It’s Racist to Listen to What Republicans Think About Me

“When ‘centrists’ care more about the GOP base than the Dem base, bigotry gets legitimized.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday reacted to a poll revealing her low – and falling – approval rating by warning Americans not to listen to what “racist, sexist” Republicans think about her.

The survey released Friday by Gallup, showed that awareness of the New York Democrat has nearly doubled since she first came to national attention with a surprise primary win in June. However, the effect on her fame has been mostly negative: Among the 71 percent of Americans who know her name, 41 percent disapprove of her, compared to 31 percent who approve.

WATCH: Reality Check for AOC: Life in Congress Is Really Hard

Ocasio-Cortez retweeted a post that attributed the Gallup findings to “racism, sexism and Fox News targeting.” She added that GOP voters are bigoted and admonished moderates not to “care” what such people think lest “bigotry” be legitimized.

The freshman congresswoman also accused the Republican Party of seeking to “otherwise, demonize + splinter” pretty much any Democratic politician who is not a white male, and said: “It’s vital that we adapt & dismantle this approach, not cow to it.”

When “centrists” care more about the GOP base than the Dem base, bigotry gets legitimized.

This is *the* playbook. GOP does it w/ virtually every Dem figure who isn’t a white male: otherize, demonize + splinter.

It’s vital that we adapt & dismantle this approach, not cow to it. https://t.co/dKlzflqZVn

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 18, 2019

In a series of tweets dismissing the poll hours earlier, Ocasio-Cortez had called Fox News “AOC TMZ,” a reference to the celebrity gossip website, and a “propaganda machine,” and blamed the network for spreading “awareness” about her among Republicans.

According to the Gallup poll, conducted Feb. 12-28, Ocasio-Cortez’s net approval rating fell eight points since it was last measured by the group in September. While Democrats and nonwhite people grew fonder of her, she lost support from every other group broken out in the survey, including independents and women.

Jordan Peterson: APA Makes Me ‘Ashamed’ to Be a Psychologist

Ocasio-Cortez was found to be especially disapproved of by men, white people, and people aged 55 and older.

Gallup noted that the numbers will have little affect on her prospects for reelection in New York’s 14th District, which is mostly Democratic and nonwhite, but said that they could bode poorly for her national ambitions.

“How Americans at large view Ocasio-Cortez will likely not factor much in her future representing Queens and the Bronx in Congress,” Gallup concludes. “But given the national platform she’s attained, her ratings may matter more as her career progresses, and as she attempts to pass sweeping legislation like the New Green Deal she has sponsored in the House.”

Meanwhile, a Siena College poll, released Monday, indicated that New Yorkers are also souring on Ocasio-Cortez. Voters in the city named Ocasio-Cortez as the “biggest villain” in the saga that saw Amazon pull out of its planned headquarters in Queens, the survey found.

Gallup said that support for Ocasio-Cortez has grown among Democrats and nonwhites, two groups that make up most of her district. So she does not necessarily need to worry about her electoral prospects.

WATCH: Jordan Peterson Clashes With Feminist Australian MP over Female Representation in Government

About Post Author

Pluralist

Andrew Tobin is Pluralist’s Editor-in-chief.

See author's posts