Racism and the Presidential Race
Aug 26th, 2008 by nick
George W. Bush is one of the most unpopular presidents ever, and John McCain is offering more of the same. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has innovate ideas and approaches, is an inspiring speaker, and is running on the opposition party’s ticket. Obama should be running away with this race, yet polls show Obama and McCain virtually tied. Why? Jacob Weisberg, in Slate magazine, presents a convincing argument that the only explanation is racism. He dissects a recent poll in which five percent of white voters actually admitted that they would not vote for a black candidate. How many more people will fail to vote for Obama for racist, perhaps even subconsciously racist, reasons, but fail to admit it to anyone?
[…] For 2008, Lichtman’s and Keilis-Borok’s model predicts a Democratic victory. However, before we all get too excited, I’m not sure they account for the unprecedented aspects of this particular race, specifically the potential for latent racism to influence the results. […]