The recent spurt of positive news about Senator Barack Obama’s campaign now includes the fact that Obama is increasingly winning the support of black voters.
Booker Rising: gives us this quote from a Wall Street Journal piece:
Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Illinois) rising poll numbers among white voters in Iowa and New Hampshire are having an unexpected ripple effect: Some black voters are switching their allegiance from Sen. Hillary Clinton (D- new York) and lining up behind him too. That could mean a further tightening of the Democratic presidential race, especially in southern states where blacks make up as many as half of Democratic primary voters.
The evidence of movement is most clear in South Carolina, site of the first Democratic primary where black votes figure to make a significant impact. There, four polls now show the liberal Illinois Democrat with a lead among black voters for the January 26, 2008 vote. As a result, the race in South Carolina has tightened, with some polls calling it a dead heat. A Rasmussen poll completed last week among South Carolina voters shows Sen. Obama now attracting 51% of the African-American vote, compared with 27% for Sen. Clinton. A month ago, the candidates were tied among South Carolina black voters. Along with other polls, Rasmussen shows the two candidates essentially tied among all South Carolina voters.
A Pew Research poll completed late last month shows Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama virtually tied among black voters nationwide; two months ago Sen. Clinton held a 12-point advantage. But an ABC News/Washington Post poll this week shows Sen. Clinton still with a commanding lead among African-Americans nationwide.
Booker Rising’s Shay writes:
My response: So only when white Democrats give the stamp of approval, do more black Democrats gravitate to Sen. Obama. That is being a follower, and not a leader. However, there is now less of the phenomenon that I have pondered on my blog about why so many black Democrats are supporting white candidates over Sen. Obama when he supports what they support and has a track record of activism within black communities.
The Christian Science Monitor has also noted how Obama is picking up more and more support from black voters.
If this is widespread and true, then it is one more big, fat political migraine for New York Senator Hillary Clinton and her team, who have been counting on former President Bill Clinton’s appeal among many black voters to transfer over to Hillary. If true, it’s HIGHLY significant and can’t mean Ms. Clinton will have an easy path to the 2008 Democratic nomination (a path that seems rockier with each day).
Just look at some of the past political stories on this subject:
So Far, Obama Can’t Take Black Vote for Granted
No lock on black voters for Obama
Could Black Voters Trip Up Obama?
Is black America ready to embrace Obama?
Obama gospel tour opens, courting black voters
Analysis: Why black voters are supporting Hillary, not Obama
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.