I saw an article today about the racist effect at the voting booth in America - apparently, in previous landmark elections where black candidates have stood for office, the difference between public opinion polls and actual election results have been as significant as 10%. The point being, this significant amount of people aren't mentioning it.
When you're in a culture that tells you to beat the next person to that elusive golden ring, the average response is to choose an easy way out - and the easiest way that is achieved is through separation on the basis of race.
I saw an article today about the racist effect at the voting booth in America - apparently, in previous landmark elections where black candidates have stood for office, the difference between public opinion polls and actual election results have been as significant as 10%. The point being, this significant amount of people aren't mentioning it.
Yeah thats what I've been thinking.
I'm suspicious of the lack of the race issue in the election. In the past I've talked to pretty liberal Americans who hate Bush but who have still had what over here would be seen as racist outlooks.
In a similar way to the UK general election in 1992 where there was an 8% swing to Major compared to the polls(even exit polls) and that was put down largely to people voting Conservative but being too embarrassed to admit it to the pollster there could be something similar going on here. At the last minute a lot of people may lose their nerve about voting for a black candidate.
I think an 8-10% swing compared to the opinion polls could still win it for McCain.
Conversely though a lot of these polls are telephone ones which could be slanting the result by reducing the number of young voters who use mobile/cell phones instead.
There are two conflicting racist related effects on voting talked about in the US elections - the one where someone tells their peers (and pollsters) they are not influenced by race, but then still vote for the white guy, and the other, in areas of significant racism, where they tell their peers they would never vote for the black guy but end up doing so anyway because that persons beliefs better match their own.
I think you talk to any counselor or sane person and they will tell you that ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. This isn't like a temper tantrum by a two year old "ignore it and they'll stop".
It's a problem which means you have to address it, look for solutions and work on improving it. Ignoring it is pointless and will create more difficulty. Talk about ignoring the 400 pound gorilla in the room. Common sense lets you know that this comment by him is ill informed and from fairyland. While it's a nice notion, in practice it isn't viable.
If we want to solve a problem go out there and work at it. It won't take care of itself.
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