Friday, November 07, 2008
Did Obama lose the white vote?
This exit poll from the New York Times shows that a majority of whites voted for McCain over Obama. Still, Obama did better among whites than John Kerry did last time around, so I wouldn't say that this poll result is an out-and-out indictment of white racism so much as a reflection of different cultural values. Also, I wouldn't say that Obama can attribute his victory solely to his strength among ethnic minorities. Obama did well enough among whites to win the election, so a big divide has been crossed. What do y'all think?
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2 comments:
That does surprise me a little, although I wasn't at all surprised that most of the South went to McCain which was one of my "theories" as to why Obama might not win, especially the popular vote. I just was not optimistic to believe that there were enough Americans who could get over his skin color - especially if you've spent any time in the South...it doesn't seem like much has changed over the last 50 years.
But I did find this article really interesting:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/06/report-08-turnout-same-or-only-slightly-higher-than-04/
I would've guessed there were a LOT more voters this time around, at least by listening to the talking heads discussing how much more organized & "in your face" Obama's campaign was to McCain's. Doesn't mean it wasn't, but I just thought for sure he had done more to get former non-voters to actually register & show up at the polls.
Just a footnote -- Obama actually did better among whites than any Democratic candidate in the list, including Carter in 1980 and Clinton when he won both times.
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