I'm not sure if framing everything in the terms of racist or not racist really helps this discussion, because that already makes things pretty loaded and people tend to shift the discussion in weird ways. Even in the poll the second answer is already disjointed from the question. It shouldn't be about whether or not someone has the right to date/not date a specific race or behave in other racist manners, it should be about if or how that is problematic.
You have the right to be racist all you want. No one can lock you up for hating someone based on race/sex/gender/orientation/whatever (at least in most first world societies) otherwise neo-nazi hate groups wouldn't exist. So even if someone says they won't date someone of race X specifically because they're not attracted to that race, yeah that is basically racist , but they can still do so.
The real matter should be probing exactly why that is, and why it seems to be such a prevalent sentiment. I do think that attitudes like this are, well, not cool. From people I've talked to it's usually not something that seems backed up by a ton of thought put into it so much as a gut reaction. Being attracted to someone is one thing, but I find it strange how this particular distinction needs to exist at all. I can understand preference for hair color or eyes but I rarely hear "I refuse to date someone with brown hair". In fact most people with certain preferences for appearance admit that they will often look outside those particular traits they like, but somehow race is just the one line that people seem unwilling to cross. That is supremely bizarre and begs more thought be given to the matter than just a blanket justification of "ok do whatever you want".
