Sep 20, 2008 3 min read

Could people be supporting Republican Presidential candidate John McCain just because he?s white? Well, for some time now, many pundits have observed that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama should have a bigger lead than he currently enjoys over McCain. President Bush?s unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

And now comes word of an AP-Yahoo News poll that, according to Associated Press, found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks _ many calling them ?lazy,? ?violent? or responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 _ about 2.5 percentage points.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don?t have such views.

?There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn?t mean there?s only a few bigots,? said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren?t voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn?t vote for any Democrat for president _ white, black or brown.

Not all whites are prejudiced. Indeed, more whites say good things about blacks than say bad things, the poll shows. And many whites who see blacks in a negative light are still willing or even eager to vote for Obama.

However, just 59 percent of Clinton?s white Democratic supporters said they wanted Obama to be president. Nearly 17 percent of Clinton?s white backers plan to vote for McCain.

Let?s hope these people come to their senses and vote for the best candidate not just McCain because they don?t like blacks. You also have to wonder how many of these people reside in Fayette County, which gave Clinton her highest percentage of the vote in Pennsylvania, last spring.

There?s no doubt that Clinton?s views are much more similar to Obama?s than McCain?s. So, if these people were true Clinton supporters than why in the world would they switch their support to McCain? It?s even more of mystery when you consider the past week when McCain?s economic views about free markets and government regulatioin were so discredited. What do these people like so much about McCain besides the fact that he?s white?