Wrong Color for the White House: Stanford AP-Yahoo Survey Finds Being Black May Cost Senator Obama the Presidency

A Stanford University conducted AP-Yahoo survey reveals that many deep-seated racial prejudices and biases of Americans could be the deciding factor in a close election. In other words, Senator Barack Obama could be found not just "too black" but simply black by enough people to put Senator John McCain in the White House.

Finally, the big black elephant running around in the room has been exposed. Yes, it's a black elephant few have acknowledged - except rather obliquely - and Stanford University has released a survey showing that Senator Barack Obama's race may be the single factor that keeps him from being elected president on November 4, Election Day.

Race In The Campaign

Race is a subject many talk around and, due to the ghastly censorship that is political correctness, many fear to even broach. But it is a valid and real issue, influencing the way we interrelate, socialize, and make decisions. Race is an amorphous social construct that is built around superficial attributes like melanin concentration in one's skin and the shape of one's eyes. It is a construct that carries with it stereotypes, generalities, and derogations that exemplify the fears and securities of one goup with regard to a strange other.

And race has been a relative issue in this political race from the beginning. At first, Barack Obama had no chance of winning because he was black. Even black voters were a bit skittish of the junior senator from Illinois, unwilling to abandon the Clintons and perhaps waste a vote on Obama. But then he won almost solid white Iowa and the idea that Senator Obama might actually have a chance began to catch fire.

But then the media, given direction by partisan sniping from the GOP and to the internecine struggles going on within the Democratic Party, began the "too black" and the "not black enough" onslaught, meant to highlight and exploit Senator Obama's obvious racial attributes to the detriment of his campaign.

And then the Jeremiah Wright controversy hit the news. Pointing to the Reverend's rhetoric and the mission statement of his Chicago church, the element of racial separatism was injected into the primary season. This was soon followed by the Clinton insinuations about race and the playing of the race card. Then the GOP state elections in North Carolina and racially tinged political ads sponsored by the GOP. And on and on.

As much as race was an obvious part of the politics throughout the primaries, the subject of race as a reason to vote or not vote for a candidate was given very little attention. Networks news organizations or magazines, local news stations or talk radio hosts might mention race here and there, but none went to the heart of the issue, always dancing around perhaps the second most volatile subject in American politics behind religion.

Directly stated: Would the race of the candidate cause you to vote for or against a candidate?

Does Race Matter In The Race For The Presidency?

Of course, race matters in the political race, but most would agree that, objectively, it should not. To deny that fact that race does not play a part in politics would be to cast a blind eye on not only the politics that exist but also the history of the United States. Politicians pay lip service to equality and egalitarian principles, but most understand and would agree, albeit privately, that there is a racial divide in the nation and that is exploited by politicians as much and as subtly as possible.

Because politics is about winning.

And if the race of the candidate did not matter, then why so much talk about the color of Senator Obama's skin? Because, unfortunately, race does matter.

Stanford University's aurvey began as an exercise to find out what factors were keeping the Obama and McCain close in a presidential race that should be highly favorable to the Democratic contender. With the popularity of the sitting president, a Republican, at historic lows, the economy spiraling out of control, and an unpopular war contributing to the economic climate, it is generally seen by many political scientists and experts as a political atmosphere highly favorable to the Democratic candidate. There are also more Democratic registered voters. Yet, the presidential race remains statistically tied in poll after poll.

What Does The Survey Say?

Although the survey found other factors at play as well, the number of people voting against Senator Obama because of his race, according to the Associated Press, was statistically higher than the percentage of difference of the final vote between the two men who ran in 2004 - nearly 2 1/2 percent. That comparison, however, is meaningless. Both candidates were white and the candidate that trailed was a Democrat.

A more significant finding in the survey is that statistical models drawn from the data suggest that Obama's numbers would increase by 6% if race were not a factor.

Seven out of ten Democrats say they support Obama. One-third of white Democrats were likely to use a negative adjective to describe blacks. Of that percentage, 58% said they would vote for Senator Obama.

Republicans were more likely to simply vote straight party, with race being a tangential but statistically unimportant factor. That may possibly be due to the fact that almost all Republicans are white and secure in that knowledge.

Independents were shown to have prejudices as well, with nearly a third of the respondents willing to use a negative adjective to describe a black person.

The survey also used images of blacks and whites to gauge prejudicial reactions. Findings showed that more than half of whites exhibited more negative reactions to blacks than toward whites, indicating that many harbored prejudicial values even though they professed few to none.

What Does It All Mean?

The findings in the Stanford survey indicate what most people in the United States already know: The United States is a prejudiced nation. Ingrained social negative biases and prejudices influence the way many people vote. Perhaps not a vast majority, but definitely enough to win or lose an election.

Although the survey also indicated other reasons than race why people would not vote for Senator Obama, such as the perception that Obama is too inexperienced to lead the nation out of its current economic woes, it is definitely disquieting that these statistics amount to millions of people voting against Senator Obama because of the color of his skin.

The ridiculousness of the argument that a person is somehow inferior to another by the amount of melanin in their skin does not obviate the reality that the argument is made and will be made on Election Day. That a person would choose one candidate over another for such an important job because their skin coloration is lighter than another's defies logic and borders on reckless stupidity.

With such great primary turnouts and voter registration drives, there is every reason to believe that the election in November will produce a popular vote that far surpasses any of the previous elections. And some will undoubtedly argue that, since the black vote seems to be leaning in Obama's direction by 90% or higher (CNN exit polling in the primaries showed blacks voting in Republican primaries lower than 1%), that certainly those numbers will offset the number of votes affected by racial prejudice. Since almost all black voters vote for Democratic presidential candidates, much akin to the Republican attitude of voting a straight ticket, the number of newly registered or re-registered black voters would still fall millions of votes short of those influenced to vote against Obama.

Although the elephant in the room has been given dimension and color, its presence is no less hurtful and counterproductive to the democratic process. But acknowledging the elephant does not rid the room of its presence. A door must be built so that the elephant can leave voluntarily.

Because racism is a personal choice.

Just like voting for a president.

For some, the answer all along has not been that Senator Obama is "too black" to be president. Just being black disqualified him.

Sources:

Associated Press
CNNPolitics.com