Surging Obama Campaign Suggests U.S. Racism on the Wane
Prejudice Lingers, but There's Evidence It's Becoming a Thing of the Past
That's come to be debunked as a current theory, in part because in more-recent elections involving African-Americans the polls have been spot on. Most pollsters have adjusted their methodology to be able to ferret out racial biases that could affect their accuracy.
There are other reasons as well. If someone doesn't want to vote for Obama because of his race, say some political analysts, they can simply point to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who made harsh anti-American statements in some of his sermons. Then there's the Obama grass-roots political machine, which has registered thousands of new voters. In fact, some longtime politicians believe the polls could actually underestimate Obama's support.
Former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus likes to joke that he's "one of Barack's core constituencies: a white guy from the Deep South who was an elected official." Mabus notes that just prior to the Mississippi primary election in March, the race between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was predicted to be very close. The secretary of state estimated that 150,000 people would turn out to vote in the primary. On primary day, more than 450,000 Democrats showed up, and Obama won with 61 percent.
"The polls are missing how many new voters we're registering -- how many people who haven't voted in a while are getting back interested in the process," says Mabus. "I think they're missing the enthusiasm and organizational work. The Obama campaign has the best organization I've ever seen. They're everywhere."
That has spurred optimism that the U.S. may in fact elect its first African-American president. That's something Jackie Rivet-River never thought she'd see.
"In my lifetime, I never dreamed that I'd see [an African-American elected president]," says Rivet-River, an older documentary filmmaker out walking her dog by Lake Michigan in Chicago. "Race isn't an issue for me, one way or the other."
She believes that in the end Obama will win by a significant margin.
Christy Gozdik, who's lived in Chicago for 30 years and just lost her job, says race isn't an issue for her either. But she says she does know at least one person for whom it is.
She won't admit it, but I know that's the reason she's voting for McCain," says Gozdik. "I hate to say it, but the racist factor is there."
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