New Poll Examines Racial Impact in Election
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain, Polls, RaceHere’s an interesting poll. A new AP-Yahoo News poll has found that as many as one third of white Democrats have negative views towards blacks. Words used to describe blacks by these whites included “lazy” and “violent.”
White Republicans are even more likely to hold negative racial views, but the poll was less interested in how racism still affects America than it was in determining how racial views may affect Barack Obama’s chances at winning the White House. Could the prevalence of racism among white Democrats account for why just 70% of Democrats support Obama but 85% of Republicans support John McCain? It’s possible, especially when you consider nearly 17% of Clinton’s white supporters are already planning to vote for McCain.
The pollsters estimated that, without race as a factor, Obama’s lead would be six points higher, although they caution that it’s impossible to account for all variables.
I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to determine the full effect of race in this election. But it’s going to play a role and, no matter who wins, we’ll be talking about this election for decades to come.
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September 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
[...] Here’s a couple of people who are taking it at face value. Oliver Willis and Donklephant. [...]
September 20th, 2008 at 11:24 am
The number of dems supporting obama is usually around 80-83. this is a number in line with historic precedent. gore won 86% in his bid. Kerry did manage to get up to 89. Obama is at 86 in the dkos tracking and 83 in gallup. so 70% is really not an accurate number
September 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
For once I’d love to see a “study on racism” that actually includes all of the races.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
According to Politico, the study “does not consider whether some whites are also supporting Obama because his victory could symbolize a large step forward in race relations.”
That seems like a major flaw in the study to me. I don’t know what the results would have been had they looked into it, but if their goal is to figure out how race is affecting the race, it seems irresponsible that they didn’t even look into whether negative racism was having an affect. I give them credit that at least they recognize that his race clearly is causing more blacks to support him, obviously, although it’s not clear to me how that factored in their numbers.
I of course hope that, in the end, race does not decide this election either way. Unfortunately, there’s no way to be sure even after the fact.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Race should not effect this race. If you are white and voting against Obama just because he is black, you are making a big mistake. Obama is an educated black man that has worked hard to get where he is in life and is working hard to get elected so he can help us ALL. He is not the kind of man to support only his own race and is not the kind of man who would prop anyone up black or white who did not deserve it. You will not see him just giving hand outs to people who are black in other words, just because they are black. If you actually take the time to get to know the man and see what he is about you will start to realize this. As a die hard Hillary supporter, I ask anyone who has their doubts about Obama’s take on people working hard and getting an education over getting a handout based on their race, please first take the time to study the man and learn what he really stands for and where he is on the issues. Listen to him first, read his book first, then decide, make am educated decision and do the research first, don’t just jump to conclusions based on what someone tells you or because Obama is black, listen to him, learn and make up your own mind. At least take the time to know who exactly you are for or against before rushing to judgment based on color alone, it’s the least you can do if you really want the best man in the White House. I had my doubts about him too at first, I don’t anymore, he’s a good man and I believe after studying him, he will do his job honestly, with integrity and to the best of his ability for all Americans no matter what your race.
Obama / Biden
September 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
This is another one of those “distraction” type stories. I guarantee you, the Obama campaign is not worried about racism. Sure, of course there will be a certain percentage of closed minded people who won’t be able to get past the color of Obama’s skin. But, I suspect they will be more than offset by the millions of enthusiastic new voters who have been encouraged to register by Obama’s historic campaign.
Also, not to be politically incorrect, but even though she took some flack for it at the time, Geraldine Ferraro actually had a valid point. A white guy with the exact same story as Barack Obama would not be Democratic nominee this year.
I think there’s little doubt that Barack Obama has benefited somewhat from his race. There are bound to be some corresponding downsides.
Overall though, I think it’s a wash.
The majority of voters will decided who this election using the same sort of reasoning as they have in the past.
… and some of those reasons will be every bit as nonsensical as voting based on skin color.
Just my opinion,
Todd