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

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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."