Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the Black Vote

Last night's Democratic primary in Michigan could have a wide spread polarizing effect on the election. Sad to say the issue of race is raising its ugly head once again. In this day and age, we should not be picking whom we vote for because they are the same race or religion and anything else for that matter. We should be picking them because we believe they will do the best for the country as a whole. Because they espouse the same values.

The Michigan primary this year is unusual because the DNC has announce that their delegates will not be seated due to the fact that the local Democratic committee moved up the date to before the earliest date allowed. The same goes for Florida. Therefor, there were very few candidates in the primary and Illinois Senator Barack Obama did not participate. New York Senator Hillary Clinton was far and away the big winner with 60% of the vote, however, a majority of the black voters, 70%, chose to vote for uncommitted delegates. According to exit polls, they are supporters of Obama. Clinton got 26% of the black vote and 61% of the white vote.

Up until now, both candidates have had a steady level of support across the board, but evidently that is changing and it could have a major impact on the primaries in states such as South Carolina. It could give Obama a boost in such states that have a high percentage of black voters, but it could be a double edged sword as well. Many of the white voters who are leaning toward Obama could pull a switch also. And this could effect states that have a smaller population of black voters.

The test will in be South Carolina. The Democratic Primary will be held on Jan 26th and that is just around the corner, with the results of Michigan fresh in the voters minds.

There have not been any polls taken in South Carolina since the Michigan Primary yesterday, but there should be in the next few days, however, the history of the South Carolina Democratic polls has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Obama up Clinton down, Clinton up Obama down. The latest polls were taken by Rasmussen Reports on Jan 6th and it shows Obama with 42% and Clinton 30%, Just day before, Survey USA showed Obama with 50% and Clinton 30%. One Dec 18th Survey USA had Clinton in the lead with 41% to 39% and two days before that, Rasmussen had them tied at 33%. It is enough to make anyone dizzy.

Both of the candidates have disavowed any mention of race in their campaigns, blaming their staff for starting it. In the Democratic Debate last night in Las Vegas, both Obama and Clinton took an easy approach, both promising to soften the tone of the campaign and tone down the issues of race and gender., the latter of which has never been an issue before.

Will the voters focus on the issues and not race or gender? The polls this week could give us a good clue. Yes, the polls lately have not been that accurate, but the primary is only 10 days away. And no other state that has a large black voter population has as primary before Feb 5th, which is now being called Tsunami Tuesday.

Sources:

New York Times
President Polls 2008
George Washington University
The Carpet Bagger Report