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September 24. 2008
Racial Views Impact Election
continued
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fro m F ront
O ne re su lt is that B arack
O bam a's path to the presidency is
steeper than it would be if he were
white.
Until now, social scientists
have not closely exam ined racial
sentim ents on a nationw ide scale
at a moment when race is central
to choosing the next president.
The poll, w hich featured a large
sample o f A m ericans— more than
2,200 — and sophisticated sur
vey techniques rarely used in
m edia surveys, reflected the com
plexity, change and occasional
contradictions o f race relations.
M ore w hites apply positive
attributes to blacks than negative
ones, and blacks are even more
generous in their descriptions o f
whites. Racial prejudice is low er
am ong college-educated whites
living outside the South. And
m any w hites w ho think m ost
blacks are som ew hat lazy, violent
or boastful are w illing or even
eager to vote for O bam a over
Republican John M cCain, w ho is
white.
John McCain
The poll, how ever, show s that
blacks and w hites see racial dis
crim ination in starkly different
terms. W hen asked "how much
discrim ination against blacks"
exists, 10 percent o f w hites said
"a lot" and45 percent said "some."
Am ong blacks, 57 percent said
"a lot" and all but a fraction o f the
rest said "some."
A sked how much o f Am erica's
existing racial tension is created
by blacks, m ore than one-third of
white respondents said "most"
or "all," and 9 percent said "not
much." O nly 3 percent o f blacks
said "most" or "all," w hile half
said "not much at all."
Port of Portland
Disparity Study Public Meeting
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comment regarding your experience competing
for work with the Port or Portland or working
on Port of Portland projects between
July, 2002 and June, 2007.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
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Possibility. In e v e ry direction.’
Nearly three-fourths o f blacks
said w hite people have too much
influence in A m erican politics.
Only 12 percent o f w hites agreed.
Almost three times as many blacks
as w hites said blacks have too
little influence. -
Far more blacks than whites
say governm ent officials "usu
ally pay less attention to a re
quest o r com plaint from a black
person than a w hite person."
O ne in five w hites have felt
adm iration for blacks "very" or
"extrem ely" often. Seventy per
cent o f blacks have felt the same
about whites.
The poll may surprise those
who thought O bam a's appeal to
young voters proves Am ericans
in their 20s and 30s are clearly less
racially biased than their parents.
The survey found no meaningful
differences am ong age groups in
whites' perceptions o f blacks, al
though older w hites appear more
likely to discuss their views.
Some findings fall into the glass
half-em pty or half-full category.
O ne-fourth of w hite Dem ocrats
ascribed at least tw o negative
attributes to blacks. But two-
thirds o f those D em ocrats said
they will vote for Obam a.
P o lls c o n s is te n tly sh o w
O bam a running about even with
M cCain, or leading by a notably
smaller margin than the one Demo
crats enjoy over Republicans in
most generic surveys about which
party is best suited to govern.
The A P-Y ahoo News poll sug
gests that racial prejudice could
cost O bam a up to 6 percentage
points this fall. That's a big hurdle
in a nation w hose last two presi
dential elections w ere decided by
much sm aller margins.
Stanford U niversity political
scientist Paul Sniderm an said that
in today’s society, racial preju
dice "is a deep challenge, and it’s
one that A m ericans in general,
and for that m atter, political sci
entists, ju st haven't been ready to
acknow ledge fully."
For m inority candidates such
as O bam a, he said, "there's a pen
alty for prejudice, and it's not
trivial." If the presidential contest
remains close, he said, racial preju
dice "m ight be enough to tip the
election.
Please Join
^ J n rtla u b (Dli5CrXU'X‘ Newspaper
at
Community Service Awards Banquet
Celebrating Mayor Tom Potter
Friday, November 21, 2008
7PM to 10 PM
This celebratory event will include music from local talent, awards of scholarships,
and community service awards for those in the community that realize the potential
in our city and communities who strive to continually give of themselves.
Charles Washington, the Publisher of the Portland Observer Newspaper carries on
the legacy of his mother's hard work in the community and her efforts in helping
those in the community.
for tickets or table information contact:
Kathy Linder email kathyl@portlandobserver.com or call 503-288-0033
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