Losing Ground

Americans remain somewhat schizophrenic on the question of race. Among registered Democrats nationwide, Obama owes his current lead in large margin to nonwhite voters (62 percent of whom support him, compared to 30 percent whites). Nineteen percent of American voters say that the country is not ready to elect an African-American president (though interestingly, an even larger percentage, 25, say the United States isn't ready for a woman president). Yet when asked if Obama's race makes a difference, only 3 percent of whites say Obama's race makes it less likely they would support him, while 5 percent of whites (and 16 percent of nonwhites) say his race would make it more likely they would support him. More than half the voters said they think "most" or "some" white voters will "have reservations about voting for a black candidate that they are not willing to express." And yet a full three quarters (74 percent) of registered voters think America is ready to elect an African-American president (up from 59 percent last July). Still, white Democrats favor Clinton by a 47 to 41 percent margin.

Asked which candidate better "understands the problems and concerns of people like you," nonwhite Democratic voters chose Obama 56 percent to Clinton's 28. Upper- and middle-class whites also went for Obama (48 to 36 percent). Working-class or poor whites, however, felt more connected to Clinton (52 percent versus 30 percent).

On the experience question, which Clinton's campaign is pushing hard, 47 percent of registered voters believe Obama doesn't have enough experience to be a good president (45 percent thinks he does have enough experience). In July 2007, 39 percent thought Obama had enough experience; 35 percent said he didn't.

On a final, somewhat surprising, note, 13 percent of the poll's respondents believed that Obama, whose middle name is Hussein, is a Muslim. The candidate is a Christian. A quarter (26 percent) didn't know what religion he practices—half (52 percent) got it right.

Methodology statement (4/26/08) Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,203 registered voters nationwide. Interviewing was conducted April 24-25, 2008. The overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for results based on 1,200 registered voters. Results based on smaller subgroups are subject to larger margins of sampling error. The margin error is plus or minus 5 for results based on 600 registered Democrats and Dem leaners. In addition to sampling error, the practical difficulties of conducting surveys can also introduce error or bias to poll results. This poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

© 2008