3.01.2007
Is Black America Ready to Embrace Obama? (CNN.com)
POSTED: 0546 GMT (1346 HKT), March 1, 2007
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In recent months, ABC News-Washington Post polls showed Sen. Hillary Clinton running 40 points higher than Sen. Barack Obama among blacks voters asked to name their preference in the Democratic primary.
But in Wednesday editions, the Washington Post reported a poll that has Obama leading Clinton by 11 points among black voters -- 44 percent to 33 percent. Obama is the Senate's only black member and has been campaigning across the country for the last couple of months. Clinton is his chief rival for the 2008 presidential nomination
That change represents a stunning 24-point swing, but does it mean the black community has embraced the Illinois Democrat as its candidate?
Not exactly.
"Obama does have a plurality of black voters right now. He doesn't have a majority yet," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "That means a majority of blacks still aren't sure about him.
"Forty-four percent favor him. That's certainly good news for him, but I think the Obama camp would like to see that be significantly higher."
Among blacks, Obama's favorables are high (70 percent), but Clinton's are higher (85 percent). Plus, Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have deep roots in the black community.
Blacks, in part, may be slow to warm to the candidacy of Obama because, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll suggests, they are less likely than whites to believe that America is ready for a black president.
The poll, conducted December 5-7, 2006, found that 65 percent of whites thought America was ready, compared with 54 percent of blacks. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.
(More ... CNN > Politics)
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In recent months, ABC News-Washington Post polls showed Sen. Hillary Clinton running 40 points higher than Sen. Barack Obama among blacks voters asked to name their preference in the Democratic primary.
But in Wednesday editions, the Washington Post reported a poll that has Obama leading Clinton by 11 points among black voters -- 44 percent to 33 percent. Obama is the Senate's only black member and has been campaigning across the country for the last couple of months. Clinton is his chief rival for the 2008 presidential nomination
That change represents a stunning 24-point swing, but does it mean the black community has embraced the Illinois Democrat as its candidate?
Not exactly.
"Obama does have a plurality of black voters right now. He doesn't have a majority yet," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "That means a majority of blacks still aren't sure about him.
"Forty-four percent favor him. That's certainly good news for him, but I think the Obama camp would like to see that be significantly higher."
Among blacks, Obama's favorables are high (70 percent), but Clinton's are higher (85 percent). Plus, Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have deep roots in the black community.
Blacks, in part, may be slow to warm to the candidacy of Obama because, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll suggests, they are less likely than whites to believe that America is ready for a black president.
The poll, conducted December 5-7, 2006, found that 65 percent of whites thought America was ready, compared with 54 percent of blacks. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.
(More ... CNN > Politics)
Labels: 2008 election, CNN, Obama
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