The Obama-McCain X Factor—Racism—Means a Long Election Night Awaits
Obamatons should be beaming, no? He's way up in the polls. Gallup's daily presidential tracking poll on Sunday had Barack Obama double digits ahead of John McCain among registered voters and well beyond the margin of error ahead of McCain among likely voters:
Barack Obama again leads John McCain nationally by 10 percentage points among all registered voters, 52% to 42%. His advantage narrows to either 7 or 3 points among likely voters, depending on how that group is defined.
That said, one Democratic member of Congress on Friday and one major Obama fundraiser both told me they're worried. Why? The member of Congress referred to the so-called X factor, or code for racism.
The member also said Obama should be further ahead among likely voters at this point in the race (with some two weeks to go), and this person worries about GOTV, or getting out the vote, and efforts to get young voters and voters of color to the polls. There are further concerns: long lines at the polls, lost ballots, and broken voting machines.
"Do you really think McCain can beat him?" I asked. "No, I think we'll win," came the response, "but it's going to be a nail-biter, and it's going to be a long, long night."
So get your rest, political junkies, between now and November 4, because it could be an all-nighter that night. Or even longer....
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | John McCain | polls | race | racism | Gallup
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Reader Comments
The Unfortunate Racism which still exists in Politics
People try so desperately to disgard the fact that racism in this country is alive and kicking. This is especially true in this current race for the presidency. I have never heard so many whites express their version of Barack Obama. Much of their
opinion are based on their efforts to maintain this country as a white laced society where the white man is at the helm of any high powered position. This is also stemmed from fear of change. There are those who just cannot perceive a black man in the highest position of the United States. We've tried the matured white male as president many times over with usually the same results. CHANGE IS NECCESARY
Black or white? Don't vote by color.
How about if:
We vote for QUALIFIED candidates, no matter WHAT their color?
It is STUPID to vote for McCain because he is white.
It is STUPID to vote AGAINST McCain because he is white.
It is STUPID to vote for Obama because he is black.
It is STUPID to vote AGAINST Obama because he is black.
'nuff said?
UNDECIDED voters could be racist
No, Erasmus of CA, it's not the Democrats who may be racist, it's the so-called "undecideds" who might actually be privately for McCain. If 50% of the undecideds are privately against Obama because he's Black, and they vote for McCain on Nov. 4, then that means we truly don't know what McCain's poll numbers are right now. I'm not resting easy looking at Obama's poll numbers in ANY of the so-called "swing states" especially if they've been reliably red all these years. I think Obama has his work cut out for him, no matter how big the lead appears right now.
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