This article I read yesterday, as well as the two articles it references contains many quotes from residents of WV and KY who say race is THE issue.
Why will Obama get trounced in West Virginia and Kentucky?
Posted May 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
It’s not an altogether pleasant subject, but it’s probably worth taking a moment to consider why Obama, just as he wraps up the nomination, is going to get his hat handed to him. McClatchy takes a closer look at the landscape in Kentucky, and suggests race is a dominating factor.
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…. “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. <…>
“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 thing is, Ali alluded to the “obvious” reasons, but didn’t want to come right out and acknowledge them. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but by virtue of his stated desire to be “very blunt,” I suspect the pollster was thinking, “A lot of white folks in Kentucky aren’t going to vote for a black man.”
The evidence is entirely anecdotal, but an analysis of the race in West Virginia produced similar results.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore