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Is racism alive and kicking in US? The polls will tell
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-05 07:32 ATLANTA: Some Barack Obama supporters fear his campaign to become US president could be derailed by an old, familiar obstacle: race. They cite evidence of racially polarized voting in the primary contests as the reason for their pessimism over the Illinois senator's prospects against Republican presidential candidate John McCain in November's election. Their fears over Obama, who could be the first black president of the US, are rooted in the history of a country where millions of Africans were once enslaved. And despite comprising about 13 percent of the population today, they fare relatively badly across many social and economic indices.
Blacks were denied the right to vote in the south till the mid-1960s, when they began to support the Democratic Party and helped prompt a major political upheaval. When Senator Hillary Clinton trounced Obama in Kentucky's primary on May 20, one-fifth of the voters said race was a factor in their choice, and exit polls showed about 40 percent of her supporters planned to switch parties and vote for McCain in November if Obama became the Democratic nominee. "It's sad that a lot of people can't bring themselves to vote for a black man - and it's 2008," says Hannah Woodard, who voted for Obama in Covington, northern Kentucky. Kentucky exit polls echoed others in some other states where Clinton scored big wins, such as West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. All these states have large white working-class populations and are among the so-called swing states, which have a disproportionately greater influence because their voters do not consistently back either political party. As a group, voters in the general elections are more white and more conservative than those in the primaries, which begs the question: Could Obama struggle in the general election because he's black? "Many have said: 'If he is the nominee we will stay at home or vote for McCain.' It could be bluster or empty talk, but if a significant percentage votes for McCain it could be devastating for Obama's chances," says Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of books on race and politics. Obama has done well in some states, including Alaska, where blacks represent less than 10 percent of the Democratic electorate. That, coupled with his strong support from young voters and increased turnout and voter registration among black voters, could in some states offset any lack of support from whites and Hispanics, Hutchinson says. Several commentators have cautioned against reading too much into impact of race on voting. They say it is difficult to project how the general election would go from the result of the primaries because voters' age, religious affiliation and education complicate efforts to determine the impact of race. "It's not that he's black and they won't vote for him ... He's more culturally liberal, he doesn't have experience, he doesn't relate to them in a meaningful way," says Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. But some commentators say Obama, 46, is more vulnerable to charges that he lacks patriotism and experience because he is young, and not white, and less familiar to many voters. "Because of his race, people more easily doubt his religious sincerity and his patriotism (and) ... charges that he is more style than substance are harder to deflect," says Mark King, a sociology professor at Morehouse College. But in the end, the historic race involving the first black major-party nominee may come down to pocketbook issues, such as the economy, gas prices and healthcare costs, as well as the unpopular Iraq War. Agencies |
