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| Poll shows prejudice among Dems may cost Obama |
| 2008-09-20 |
| In a report sure to spark a national conversation on race, an AP-Yahoo News study reported Saturday that white prejudice could be a significant enough factor to undermine Barack Obama’s bid to be the first black president of the United States. The AP-Yahoo study concluded that white Democratic racism may cause 2.5 percent of voters to "turn away from Obama because of his race," roughly the margin of George W. Bush's victory over John F. Kerry in 2004. The AP-Yahoo study found that one-third of white Democrats cited a negative adjective when describing blacks and, of those, just 58 percent said they planned to back Obama. For example, AP reported that more than a quarter of white Democrats agreed that “if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites.” Four in ten white independents agreed, while a quarter described blacks as "violent." White Democratic supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton were almost twice as likely as Obama’s primary supporters to cite a negative adjective in describing blacks — a finding consistent with trends in earlier polling. Only 59 percent of Clinton’s white Democratic supporters wanted Obama to be president. The report may now begin a conversation on race, one notably absent considering the historic nature of Obama’s bid — and his own call for such a conversation in a speech delivered after racially charged remarks from his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright emerged during the primary season. Just last month Obama accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Throughout the 2008 presidential race, pollsters have been struggling to accurately gauge the degree of prejudice among whites and how that may affect the final outcome of this election. Democratic primary exit polls suggested that racism was a factor in the vote of as many as a fifth of white party members. Analysts have long presumed that racism was under reported, as some who factor race into their vote would not be willing to admit that prejudice to pollsters. Any possible latent racial prejudice among white Democrats has been of particular interest to analysts because it could potentially undo Obama’s presidential bid. The AP study found that racism pervades political identity but that Republicans are already predisposed to support John McCain, regardless of their views on race. To detect unreported racial biases, the study, among other metrics, sat those interviewed in front of monitors, using black and white faces to “measure implicit racial attitudes, or prejudices that are so deeply rooted that people may not realize they have them.” The survey then used statistical modeling to estimate the how representative those interviewed were of the electorate overall. The survey's conclusions are likely to be controversial. AP reported that its team of pollsters “set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats.” The study, and report, both ignore other weaknesses widely considered by seasoned analysts to also undercut Obama’s bid, among them his inexperience, generally liberal record and the fact that no northern Democrat has been elected president since 1960. Still, analysts have also long agreed that race was a crucial unknown factor in this presidential race. The study also notes that race has helped Obama win near uniform support among blacks — who have long tilted overwhelmingly Democratic — though it does not consider whether some whites are also supporting Obama because his victory could symbolize a large step forward in race relations. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 The report may now begin a conversation on race, one notably absent considering the historic nature of ObamaÂ’s bid I don't think so. The Obama/Axelrod 'hip-urban primary campaign' did a pretty damn good job of alienating traditional Democratic groups. The convention and post-convention antics have done further damage. Throwing in the continual-repeating line of "you won't vote for him because he's black" isn't going to help. If there's going to be a 'conversation', I've a feeling it's going to be of the Clinton-era, encounter-group sort. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-09-20 19:24 |
| #4 white Democratic racism may cause 2.5 percent of voters to "turn away from Obama Two point five percent are racist? Surely that is so low that we should be very proud of our citizenry. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-20 18:58 |
| #3 That seems to be the theme "du jour" for the donks and their proxies in the MSM. White shame. A vote for McPalin = racism. This indicates that the donks and their friends in the MSM are becoming increasingly frightened they may lose this. More importantly this could actually backfire on the donks. Some of the rational voters who will not figure out who they will vote for until they get behind the curtain will remember this, resent it, and pull McPain. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2008-09-20 18:32 |
| #2 So, properly speaking, would that statement be that "one-third of white Democrats are bigots", "one-third of white Democrats are racists", or "one-third of white Democrats are prejudiced." And, left unsaid, how many black Democrats are bigots, racists, or prejudiced. Certainly many, judging from remarks by black "leaders", like Reverend Jeremiah Wright, this year. So between the two groups, are 40% of Democrats bigots, racists, or prejudiced, or more like 50%? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-20 15:54 |
| #1 Trying hard to make people feel guilty and racist for not voting for their boy. If you have to go for the pity vote, what does that say about you. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-09-20 15:36 |