Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2008

Race is 'elephant' in booth

Remarks by Obama's ex-pastor worry many

By Linda B. Blackford

LBLACKFORD@HERALD-LEADER.COM

See the poll results on issues of race and gender

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U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's race and inflammatory racial remarks made by his former preacher negatively affect how likely voters view the candidate, according to a new Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll.

More than one in five likely Democratic voters surveyed said being black hurts Obama's chances of winning an election in Kentucky, compared to 4 percent who said Obama's race helps him.

Although more than half of respondents said his race isn't a factor in the election, many of those surveyed also said racially charged remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright will play an important role as they decide whom to support in the May 20 primary.

Wright's remarks are important or very important to 43 percent of those polled. Among white voters, his statements were important to 46 percent, compared to only 11 percent of black voters.

"Race is still the elephant in the room, and the Rev. Wright issue hits at remaining racial prejudices and fears that people here might have," said Saundra Ardrey, head of the political science department at Western Kentucky University.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's gender is not a major factor for those surveyed. Eleven percent saw Clinton's gender as a positive, which was only slightly less than the 14 percent who viewed it as a negative. Clinton's gender didn't matter to 63 percent of those polled.

The telephone survey of 500 likely Democratic voters was conducted from May 7 through May 9 by Research 2000 of Olney, Md. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Some of the statements made by Wright over many years at his Chicago church included questions about the government's complicity in the AIDS epidemic, praise for black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan and criticism over America's foreign policy.

At first, Obama said he would not disavow Wright; after more public statements in which Wright repeated some of his former opinions, Obama denounced him.

Kentucky's population is only 8 percent African-American, and many of the state's voters are older and more traditional. No black candidate has ever been elected to statewide office.

"I'll be very blunt," said pollster Del Ali, president of Research 2000. "Even if there wasn't a Rev. Wright controversy, I think Obama would have a tough time in Kentucky, for obvious reasons."

The Bradley effect

The fact that 56 percent of interviewed voters said Obama's race was not important could be due to something called the Bradley effect, Ardrey said.

In 1982, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who was black, was predicted to win the governor's race by a comfortable margin but lost.

"It's not socially acceptable to say things about race and gender, but in the secrecy of the voting booth, they come out," Ardrey said. "That's why polls are not accurate when it comes to true feelings on race and gender, especially race."

Sandy Ross agrees that people won't always be truthful about why they vote a certain way. A math teacher at Menifee County Elementary School, she thinks her community has come a long way on issues like racial equality, but "frankly, we still have a ways to go."

"In Menifee County, race matters more than gender," Ross said. "People are more inclined to vote for a woman than a black person."

Ross likes many of Obama's ideas, but was definitely alienated by Wright's remarks, which many feel demonized white America.

And for her, gender is the main issue. "Mrs. Clinton is a woman, she has common sense and I think it's time," she said. "Men have made a royal mess of things."

Still, Obama's race and name are different enough for some people that they cannot support him.

Bill Donovan of Inez says he's not racist, and would love to support a black candidate like former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

But he believes that Obama is a Muslim and therefore unsuited to be president. "He was born and reared a Muslim," Donovan said. "He can say whatever he wants to say but he is what he is. We're fighting a war on terror and we don't need a fox in the henhouse."

Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, a Muslim country. He is a Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Other controversies

Aside from Rev. Wright's remarks, the poll showed that voters don't appear too bothered by two other mini-controversies for both candidates.

Twenty-three percent of those polled said Clinton's misstatements about whether she was under sniper fire in Bosnia were important to their vote. Twenty-nine percent of voters said they didn't care about Obama's comments about rural voters clinging to guns and religion.

"I think voters realize they are under scrutiny 24/7 and there will be misstatements," Ardrey said. "What may be important is economic issues; we're not concerned about flag pins or Bosnia, but about bread-and-butter things."

Kathy Purcell of Lancaster isn't concerned about the Bosnian remarks, but does think that Clinton has lied about her experience.

"Thirty-five years of being first lady of the United States and the governor's wife does not give you elected experience," she said. She believes that the Democratic party establishment has anointed Clinton because of her husband's popularity.

That might be true, says David Kinman. "I think people remember that Bill Clinton's terms were eight very good years for us, as opposed to the past eight very poor years."

Certainly, Bill Clinton's shadow looms large over any debate about gender, says Joe Gershtenson, director of the Center for Kentucky History and Politics at Eastern Kentucky University.

"It is the working class support that Hillary is enjoying and Bill Clinton did alright by the working and middle class," Gershtenson said. "Those folks enjoyed improving times over the course of his terms and I think that makes a big difference."

kentucky democrats polled on issues likely to sway their vote in primary

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