African American Voters Shift Support to Obama in latest ABC poll

[flpoljunkie]

African American Voters Shift Support to Obama

By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Tuesday, February 27, 2007; 5:20 PM

The opening stages of the campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination have produced a noticeable shift in sentiment among African American voters, who little more than a month ago heavily supported New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton but now favor the candidacy of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Few constituencies are more important in Democratic politics than black voters, and the already-intense competition between Clinton and Obama for support among African Americans is one of the most closely watched aspects of the party's nomination battle.

Clinton continues to lead Obama and other rivals in the Democratic nominating contest, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. But her once-sizeable margin over the freshman senator from Illinois was sliced in half during the past month largely because of Obama's growing support among black voters.

<>The latest poll put Clinton at 36 percent, Obama at 24 percent, Gore at 14 percent and Edwards at 12 percent. None of the other Democrats running received more than 3 percent. With Gore removed from the field, Clinton gained ground on Obama, leading the Illinois senator 43 percent to 27 percent. Edwards ran third at 14 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022701030_pf.html

[Bitwit1234]

1. Of course they will.

Sometimes I feel upset about the fact that they would vote for a person just because they are black. I know a lot of white's won't vote for a black candidate. But there are a lot of white's who vote for a black. Look at New England. And the grand old state of Virginia had the first black governor.

But see the way the blacks in Maryland voted for Steele. There could not have been a more crooked individual that the republicans could put up for office, but the blacks voted for him because he was black. And I am not a racist. Way back in the 50's and 60's when racism ran rampant, my husband and I recruited the first black cub scout. There were a lot of protest but we signed him up anyway. We took him to the places that we went..whites only. And felt that he was just as good as anybody there. So when I say it upsets me that a black democrat would vote for a black republican just because he was black, it is not racist.

[flpoljunkie]

3. Obama is drawing diverse crowds wherever he goes, as in Cincinnati yesterday.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200...

Obama keeps donors coming
Downtown breakfast raises up to $500,000

BY HOWARD WILKINSON

Even the event's organizer, state Sen. Eric Kearney, said he was astounded by the success of Monday's Barack Obama fundraiser at the Westin Hotel downtown, which might have raised as much as $500,000 for the Illinois Democrat's presidential campaign.

About 1,000 Obama supporters - including a handful of Republicans - crammed the main ballroom at the Westin. Dozens had to stand through the breakfast, lining the walls.

It was an unusually large fundraising event for Cincinnati, which spoke to the star power Obama carries. Former President Clinton drew 600 to a downtown hotel in October when he appeared at a fundraiser for John Cranley's congressional campaign.

<>"It was unbelievable," Kearney said. "The people just kept coming."

What was most impressive was "how diverse a crowd it was - whites, blacks, Latinos, Asian folks, rich and poor," Kearney said. "It shows the broad appeal Barack has."

[Connie_Corleone]

4. Yes. And that's an achievement for a candidate in good ol' Cincinnati.

He definitely has broad appeal when he can draw a diverse crowd here in Cincinnati.

[Connie_Corleone]

5. Gee. I guess that's why we voted in droves for Al Sharpton in 2004.

And don't forget the huge support we gave Carol Moseley Braun when she was running for president.

Oh wait. We didn't. What a surprise.

It's not just because he's black. He's the first black candidate who has a chance of winning. He was a community organizer, was a civil rights attorney, taught Constitutional law, served eight years in the state senate, is a U.S. senator, he spoke out against the Iraq war in 2002, etc.

There is more than one reason why some black people would support Obama.

Oh, another thing. The reason some black people voted for Steele in Maryland is because they wanted to. We don't all think alike.

[Kahuna]

6. Ditto, what you said. We couldn't possibly be supporting him because..

we believe he is the best candidate in the race. How could he be? He's black.
:sarcasm:

[marmar]

9. OK, I was going to ignore this, but Puh-leaze....

I'm black, and I happen to like Barack Obama quite a bit for his intelligence and stances on many issues, but if I go to vote in the primary and Al Gore's name on the ballot, I'm voting for AL GORE. Your assumption that the only reason black people would vote for Obama is because he's black suggests that that's the only reason black people would have to vote with him - it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's getting more publicity now and they're learning more about him. If your theory was correct, he would have had majority black support when he announced.
And you know what, if black people only voted for black people, there would be far fewer white Democrats holding office right now!

:think:

[Kahuna]

11. Ditto what you said too!!! If Gore runs, I'm supporting him because..

he'll be the BEST candidate. Obama would then be the second best candidate and an excellent running mate for Gore. :D

[blm]

10. Sorry, but people are moving to Obama because he's a better choice than Hillary, not because

he's black.

Obama isn't part of the extended Bush family.

[IndyOp]

15. I'm with blm - Obama & Edwards have my attention because they aren't Clinton.

Of course, my heart belongs to Al. <- :loveya:

[Orangepeel]

16. for the record, Cardin got over 70% of the African American vote

of course, that's a pretty low percentage compared to how African Americans usually vote, but it's still a big majority.

Some numbers I've seen estimate that Cardin got 72% of the AA vote and O'Malley got 84%. So, maybe about 12% of blacks switched parties. That's 12% too many given what an asshole Steele is, but it's hardly a large enough number to generalize how "the blacks" will vote for a black republican just because he's black.

random link to some stats: http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/commentary.cfm?ArticleID=7593

[Bjorn Against]

17. How do you know they are supporting him just because he is black?

I am not even an Obama supporter, but this kind of attack makes me sick. What evidence do you have that all the blacks who are supporting Obama are supporting him solely because of his skin color? I can guarantee you that most white Democrats would get far more votes than Condoleeza Rice would from blacks. It is not about skin color, it is about finding candidates who they feel represent them and their community. Don't just assume that blacks vote based on skin color, especially when you have no real evidence to back yourself up.

[carpe diem]

24. didn't Michael Steele lose...

as many Black people as there in MD, if he'd had significant black support, he'd have won by a landslide..MOST black folks voted for his WHITE opponent

[cali]

25. Excuse me?

How the hell do you know that African Americans are switching their support to Obama from Hillary because he's black? It's more likely that they're switching that support because they've become more familiar with him. The evidence for that is initially most of that support WAS with Hillary, who voters are more familiar with. You have no evidence for saying that black support is going to Obasma because he's black. Even if they're are SOME African Americans who are supporting him, in part or in whole because he's black, that's also probably true of SOME women who are supporting Hillary because she's female.

And yes, I find your post is an example of basic racism.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Very significant. K&R

[NDP]

14. Absolutely insignificant. See post #13

[azurnoir]

7. Take THAT Deb Dickerson

Anyone who saw her on the Daily Show last week knows she is the one who wrote the "He's African american" not "african American" article for Salon, but she out did herself for offensiveness with her comment to John Stewart about Mr Obama being "as Black as circumstances allow" remark.

[Colobo]

8. So it's not possible, according to you, that

people are switching to Obama just because the great candidate he happens to be?

[Arugula Latte]

12. Good news.

Everybody knows Hillary.

Lots of people don't know Barack. As they get to know him, his support will grow and Hillary's will continue to shrink.

[NDP]

13. Okay, so in the last poll, Edwards was 29 behind the Clinton name and 13 behind the Obama media buzz

Now he's 21 behind the Clinton name and 12 behind the dwindling Obama media parade, even though he dropped 2 points.

So, basically, not much has changed since the last poll.

[Laurab]

18. "Dwindling Obama media parade"???

"Dwindling"? Can you name ONE place where you've seen it "dwindling"? It seems to me it's only just beginning, and far from "dwindling". When you have to keep changing to larger venues, I actually think they call that growing.....

[Colobo]

19. Obama's rise is steady

He keeps drawing huge crowds everywhere he goes! :)

[Laurab]

20. Oh, I've noticed that -

I was just wondering if the poster knew something I didn't! :hi:

[NDP]

22. Sorry, Obama's not drawing anything. The media created the Obama energy, and the people are turning

out to see him. The media talked about nothing but Obama from December (with a brief Gerald Ford hiatus) to February. They created most of the energy for Obama. People are turning out to see what they "heard about." Obama's not "drawing" anyone.

I just state the underlying truths. What has Obama or Hillary Clinton done to be drawing huge crowds and poll numbers? What have they said? What have they proposed?

People need to ask themselves that question. When they realize that they haven't done any more than the rest of the candidates, then one thing becomes absolutely clear.

They are benefiting from the constant pumping up of them that the media do. Even the Obama/Hillary spat is a psychological tactic to reinforce the "Obama v. Hillary" headlines that the media are pushing to make the casual voter believe that those are the only two choices, choose one.

Tell me one day that you have ever watched Hardball and not seen a "Hillary v. Obama" header? I can't think of one.

[Ethelk2044]

26. Obama and Crowds

I am quite sure the other candidates would like to believe he is now drawing people. The more people who listen to him are very impressed. Even some republicans have stated they would vote for him. He is trying to go with a different campaign one for the people instead of big corporations. Now whether this is going to succeed only time will tell. He has been getting more and more people to believe in his campaign. If he keeps it up Maybe he could win and put the naysayers to rest.

[flpoljunkie]

27. No, Obama created the energy when he spoke at the 2004 Dem Convention and in his announcement speech

[NDP]

21. By dwindling, I mean it's no longer continuous coverage like it was when they were doing all they

could to convince him to run.

[TeamJordan23]

23. Will Gore Voters Really Switch to Clinton?

This Poll, like the recent Zogby poll, show Clinton's numbers going up if Gore is not included as one of the nominees in the poll. Will Gore supporters really jump to Clinton?

I would think that most Gore voters would jump to Obama or Edwards.

[wyldwolf]

28. A considerable amount will

Outside the netroots, Gore is viewed as connected to the Clintons in every measurable way.

[newyawker99]

29. Hi TeamJordan23!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ripple]

30. Here's an NPR piece about this

I posted this link on another thread, but since it deals with precisely this topic, might as well post it here, too. This is a wonderfully insightful interview. I just wish it were longer. :)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7638021