Much has been made about race in this election

Flashy

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this was a very interesting poll and article taken among white democrats and white republicans and white independents and how they feel about blacks and how it relates to how they will vote...

I do not know what conclusions it may reach about how many of these white democrats intend to vote truly, but it certainly shows a serious racial divide.

it certainly was very eye-opening...also the methodology was interesting as well.

also, click on the interactive link for a look at more of it.

Political Pulse | The Associated Press-Yahoo! News Poll on Yahoo! News

Interactive: Barack Obama's race problem


thoughts?
 

B_starinvestor

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Stigmas and stereotypes about blacks are not gone, but they are slowly going away. The fact that we have a black presidential candidate is evidence that progress is being made in this regard.

From my personal observations, Obama is as well-spoken and exudes as much or more intelligence as any presidential candidate I can remember.

As a white male, I can say that I haven't considered race as a characteristic - positive or negative - when I observe Obama. I believe more bias is evident with the topic of Sarah Palin. With Palin I see more derogatory innuendos such as "hockey mom," "Miss Alaska runner-up" jokes, lipstick on a pig et al. That being said, it is likely that she will draw as many votes for being a woman as she will lose.

I believe the same for Obama. He may lose some votes in the white community - media reports suggest he's having trouble with white, middle class men. I believe he will benefit by picking up some votes from other demographic groups.

Time will tell I suppose.
 

b.c.

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...it certainly was very eye-opening...also the methodology was interesting as well.

Eye-opening perhaps only for those unaware of the true nature and subtleties of racism in America.

Typically (as sometimes evidenced here in these forums) when the existence of it is so much as suggested, there are those who are quick to dismiss it as a figment of the imagination.
 
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Flashy

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Eye-opening perhaps only for those unaware of the true nature and subtleties of racism in America.

No, i meant eye opening in the terms of how many in the democratic party there are.



Typically (as was once evidenced here in these forums) when the existence of it was so much as suggested, there were those who were quick to dismiss it as a figment of the imagination.

There still are some. But I think most have "gone to France".

but let's face it, some of those questions, even to a reasonable person, based on the recent history of race relations in america, could find some doubts or disagreements/agreements with those terms, without actually being a racist.

Much of the problems have to do with the perception of the younger black population as opposed to the older black population. there will always be ingrained racism in a larger part of the older white population when lookin at all black americans, but as a 37 year old white male, i am very very comfortable dealing with older blacks, age 35-40+...i think older black america and older white america have more in common then they think...older black america tends to be much more conservative, not "politically", but socially, family, economically, etc.
 

b.c.

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(hmmm...i had thought i had edited my original version to the "kinder gentler b.c. version" BEFORE i posted it. ah well). :cool:

I'm in agreement with you that the perceptions of younger white/black America are different from the perceptions of their respective elders, and perhaps some small comfort can be taken in the possibility that in time, the polarization will lessen.

However I think there is still an underestimation as to the extent and subtleties that racism (or at least race based thought) still are intertwined in our national psyche, especially among white Americans (meaning, the underestimation - not the racism).

Most polls that ask to what extent does one believe race is of significant influence demonstrate that whites in general think it is far less a factor in our lives than most blacks do.

I think those differences in opinion are not based so much on perceptions as they are in different realities.

Though older black Americans may seem more conservative than younger ones by virtue of their involvement in jobs, family, home, economic stability, and other values similar to middle class Americana in general, it does not mean their perception of the racial divide is lessened.
 
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faceking

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I think some of it, and this won't come over well, is the type of African-American Obama is. He's not Colin Powell for sure. But coming from Chicago, the Rev Wright 20 years and he never (eyes rolling) heard anything racists come out, and so on. He's not a soft approach for the racial sensitive. He personally is, but his background doesn't suggest the easy route.

I too have seen, long before this election that a lot of white (and even more so Asians... so let's not make this a white vs black debate) tend to say one thing nice a poll on African-American or Hispanic candidates but act differently when it comes time to vote. Keep that in mind during the polling.

Lest we forget Obama is as much a white candidate (50%) as he is a black candidate (50%).
 

Pitbull

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I too have seen, long before this election that a lot of white (and even more so Asians... so let's not make this a white vs black debate) tend to say one thing nice a poll on African-American or Hispanic candidates but act differently when it comes time to vote. Keep that in mind during the polling.

I believe there is something else going on in this election which is not reflected in the polls. I have had some long time democrats "confess" misgivings about Obama which have nothing to do with race. They seemed ashamed or embarrassed about not supporting a democrat.
I think there are a lot of very traditional democrats who will not vote for Obama and they might be reluctant to express such feelings to a pollster.
The underlying currents I sense are related to Rev. Wright, William Ayres, lack of experience, approach to foreign policy - negotiating with Iran for example, perceived mistreatment of women by the democratic party not supporting Hilliary, not being sure about what he really would do as president, and that he is more of a politician than anything else.

Before attacking me, please understand that I am stating what I perceive to be the feelings of democrats that should be on the bandwagon.
I sure there will be a flood of postings about Mr. Obama's character, experience, positions on the issues, important differences between him and the Republican candidate. Reasons will be given why everyone should vote for Obama. We will be told that it is obvious that it is the smart thing to do and not doing it would be stupid.
Please direct those arguement towards your friends who are planning to vote for McCain
 

Flashy

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(hmmm...i had thought i had edited my original version to the "kinder gentler b.c. version" BEFORE i posted it. ah well). :cool:

I'm in agreement with you that the perceptions of younger white/black America are different from the perceptions of their respective elders, and perhaps some small comfort can be taken in the possibility that in time, the polarization will lessen.

I'd like to hope so, but i am not sure it will, sadly


However I think there is still an underestimation as to the extent and subtleties that racism (or at least race based thought) still are intertwined in our national psyche, especially among white Americans (meaning, the underestimation - not the racism).

You are probably right...but that works from both sides' views of the other, not just white to black.
while i do not doubt that there are plenty of folks who cannot get past their prejudices, i would certainly be much more amenable to spending a couple of hours chatting with an intelligent, articulate black person about politics, movies or something we may have a shared interest in like music that has an appeal both to blacks and whites (such as the blues, or jazz or motown), than spending my time with some stupid ignorant white dude without a brain in his head but obviously therein lies the difference in that a true racist (either black or white) would prefer the company of the same race moron, than the other race person with something more tangible to offer. (obviously this is a simplistic equation, but you get my drift)


Most polls that ask to what extent does one believe race is of significant influence demonstrate that whites in general think it is far less a factor in our lives than most blacks do.

This is true, for obvious reasons...but by the same coin, if you were to ask similar questions of blacks, you may also get a far more skewed influence than it really is. (i.e. while racism does in fact exist, it exists less so than blacks believe and moreso than whites believe, IMO)



I think those differences in opinion are not based so much on perceptions as they are in different realities.

Though older black Americans may seem more conservative than younger ones by virtue of their involvement in jobs, family, home, economic stability, and other values similar to middle class Americana in general, it does not mean their perception of the racial divide is lessened.

I would agree with that, but older black americans also have a different perspective of just how much they can achieve with their best efforts. They also have a perspective that the challenges faced by older black americans were *FAR* greater in societal terms then the ones faced by young blacks today.

Most older blacks faced a system designed to exclude them, segregate them and deny them equality...as a result, i believe a great majority of those black citizens were absolutely intent on proving themselves...to everyone...themselves most importanly, to show that they were indeed equal, which is what i admire. Being Jewish i relate to the concept of having to work harder to prove you are just as good as everyone else...

I believe that is why Jews and blacks had an original kinship...but those days are long gone, as i do not believe that the younger black generation has the same incentives...

yes there is racism, but they are not facing the same societal challenges their elders faced...most of the challenges these young folks are facing are a product of either their own doing (or lack of doing) and an anger at a system that is no longer holding them back the way it did the previous generation, yet they are not succeeding in compared to the great success achieved by the previous generations.

There is only so much that a country/society can do, and sadly, you can't change the way people feel or see others.
 

Notaguru2

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Republicans wouldn't be voting for Obama anyway, so they get to act like they aren't racists.

I fight this in my own family here in the south. Dems in my family who are over 60 won't vote for Obama because he is black - period. I asked them point blank. When I probe deeper, I get the argument about affirmative action and blacks will take over the country.

They can't help it though. They're old and have very simplistic minds. They've seen a lot take place in this country especially around civil rights and quite frankly, they are bitter. It wouldn't matter to them if Obama had the best damn plan in the history of the world - they can't conceive of our country being run by a "n***er".

But, I got the last word this weekend. I told my father-in-law, "You're the last generation that even sees color in a person's skin. Fortunately for the rest of us, your generation won't be here much longer and the rest of us can move on". True story...