Friday, November 07, 2008

Racism Gone In America?

An end to racism may be a lofty goal, but the election of Barack Obama took us one step closer to a day where people are not judged solely on the color of their skin.

And what I found particularly interesting in the news today was the fact that the much talked about Bradley Effect didn't happen.

The Bradley Effect is when white voters lie to pollsters about who they are going to vote for so that they don't appear racist. The guilty white voter tells the pollster they are going to vote for the non-white candidate, but when they get to the voting booth fear and racism kick in, and at the last minute they vote white.

In doing this they invalidate the early poll numbers and this creates an overly optimistic count of the support a non-white candidate has.

In analyzing Obama's victory from Tuesday it has been discovered that the Bradley Effect was a non-issue. Generally speaking people voted as they said they would, and there was no hidden white bias.

It's a refreshing thing to see.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was SOOO glad to see the Bradley Effect to be voodoo. I was seriously concerned about it, and it was great to see it become a non-issue. I may be a white male, but I have at least 5 reasons why getting past racism is as important to me as anyone else.

It was awesome to my wife's reaction to Obama's election. Even though she disagreed with him on many points, she could help but be filled with pride and hope.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...