Election 08 - Are we Racists? Sexists? Partisans?

April 4th, 2008 by JAZZ SHAW

A new CNN poll tells us that 76% of Americans are ready for a black president. In the breakdown we see that 78% of whites and 69% of blacks answered this question in the affirmative. Additionally, 63% of Americans feel that the country is ready for a female president. On the surface you may be cheered by these numbers, but I suppose I’m just more of a pessimist by nature. When I first read the results I found myself asking, “you mean nearly a quarter of Americans are not ready for a black president and almost a third aren’t ready for a woman?” I had hoped we’d come further than that in the last few decades.

But then, upon further reflection, I tried to put myself in the shoes of some of these people answering the phones and responding to this poll. Do we really have that many racists in the nation? Are our ranks so filled with misogynists? Or might there be something a bit more complex beneath the surface?

I wonder if our pollsters aren’t being taken in yet again. If I am an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter and a caller asks me if the nation is ready for a black president, what I’m really hearing is, “are we ready for Barack Obama?” And then my answer might just be no. Would there not be a temptation for a die-hard Obama supporter to say we’re not ready for a female president because the question today means Hillary Clinton?

No, I suspect we’re doing betters on issues of race and sex than this poll might indicate. The area we’re falling down on is partisan political attitudes. As Shaun pointed out earlier, we will be addressing this question during the first part of our show on Mid Stream Radio today at 1:00 pm Eastern, 10:00 am Pacific. Stop by to listen or call in with your own thoughts on the subject.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 7:07 am and is filed under Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Newsweek Blogitics, Democrats, Talk Radio, 2008 Elections, Race, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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