If 96% of white voters had voted for McCain in the 2008 election, would that be evidence of racism?

I would not have voted for McCain if he was the only one running. I can’t even imagine a scenario in which 96% of any group would vote for McCain.

Can I see a citation for the statement that 96 percent of black voters voted for Obama? Thanks!

And, I would have voted for Francis The Talking Mule before voting for McCain – and the reason is that he insulted the intelligence of women of this country by thinking he could swing the female vote by choosing Palin as a running mate.

So, sorry, but the implication that black voters voted for Obama based on his skin color is, to me, not valid.

Nobody claims that all white people are racists. The claim is not all Republicans are racists, but if you are are a racist you are probably a Republican.

Of course not. But there would be a dickload of accusations about it.

I honestly think some people voted for Obama as a default because Bush frightened so many people they didn’t want another republican. Even republicans were changing their minds, “Yeah, you’re right, Bush was crazy..”. And that says a lot when a country comes together and says “Wtf were we thinking?”

I do not deny some people were voting for Obama based on skin color, I heard people say it, but I can’t do anything about that. It was bound to happen; for a few reasons I’ll edit my answer for when I come back. I’m finishing a movie, lol.

Aren’t you omitting one little bitty point? This was the first time in the history of the country that anyone other than a white man had a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming president .. and did. I think that might have had something to do with the large minority support Obama was shown in 2008.

I’m don’t think I completely agree with the idea that black voters voted for Obama exclusively because he’s black. Don’t most black voters historically vote Democratic? (Sorry, too tired to look for references.)

Certainly, Bush gave folks plenty of reason to abandon the party (I am still in disbelief that he was elected for a second term). And the odd thing is, I actually liked McCain the first time around, and I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a Republican candidate. And then he caved, went crazy, agreed to associate with that woman, and said whatever he thought would get him elected, and I lost all respect for him. I wonder which McCain was the real deal?

And it may make me a cheesy/mushy/shallow whatever, but I was brought to tears when Obama became our first elected African American president. I’m still proud of our electorate for that.

Ok, so in my opinion, there are a few reasons why this happened. Black voters tend to vote democrat, anyway. I’m not sure how Latins vote, but my educated guess is that the majority of them vote democratic, too.

I have been told multiple times that the democrats are the “poor man’s party” and the republicans are the “rich man’s party”. We all know how generalizations spread, so imagine how many people are out there thinking this. I don’t know where it came from, but when people think about the party that is going to look out for the poor people, it is not social and fiscal conservatives.

Basic sociology says that groups like people that are like them. Everyone knows this. If it’s not color, it will be political affiliation, religion, or martial arts discipline. How many african americans make up the U.S.? The minority will usually tend to have a different psychology than the majority. The majority grows up with with things being “normal”, or default. It is harder for the minority to have this same mindset, because they are not what is default. We would all like to forget about race, but it’s not a sweeping mindset that takes over all at once. A lot of people still care about race, don’t know how to talk about race, don’t know how to assimilate, or don’t know how to look past it and forget the past, and that doesn’t make it easy when it is always brought up. I remember being surprised when I started seeing non-whites in leadership roles in the media.

Also, like I said before, Bush made an extremely bad impression on the republican party. When I started paying attention to politics in 2007 and heard about all of the stuff his administration had done, I was confounded. That was my first impression of republicans (I did not vote in last election, either).

Of course there are a million other factors as well, such as more young people getting into, and participating in politics. I can’t name all the reasons, but these were some of the ones that stood out to me.

Nope, I don’t believe race is an issue. But then again, I’m from San Diego, (most republican cit y in California), a state that’s worth 55 electoral votes. Trust me, for the most part, we put the issues on front of skin.

To tell you the truth, I was a little disgusted about the attention given to the color the president was. It has no bearing on his ability to hold a position in office. I would have voted for Obama over the other candidates based on a number of reasons.. none of which had anything to do with the color of his skin.

I’m surprised 4% didn’t, if your numbers are right.
McCain and Palin were nightmares of incompetency.

I think a good question would be, if McCain, had become president, would 96% of white people rather we go into a crashed depression, or would they applaud a similar move which Obama took, which was to stimulus package the heck out of this country. I’m half white, so I’ll reply, I think people under McCain, would have applauded that move, and just blame the former administrations therefore justifying the stimulus packages haha.

There were no racists who voted for Obama?

I can tell you the fact that 96% of black voters voted for Obama isn’t evidence of much of anything. Black voters generally vote democratic. The black votes for the Democratic presidential candidate are always very high. Generally around 85 to 90 percent. For Obama it was 96%.

And, if the If the data had revealed that 96% of white voters had voted for the white candidate, would there be charges of deep seeded racism in America?

In isolation, as event taken outside the context of American history, outside the context of the history of segregation and racism in America? As some kind of isolated event in country without history of deep seeded racism? Who knows what people would say.

A better test of this would be to have a black person, man or woman, get the republican nomination. Oh shit I would love to see an election like that. The last one was so predictable it was a yawn.

Jesus, don’t you still get it? Only white people are racists! LOL!

@josie If whites voted for McCain simply because he was white and his oponent wasn’t, yes, that would be the essence of what racism is. Likewise if all the blacks that voted for Obama were casting their vote only based on the color of his skin, that too would be racism. But if they voted based on the platforms the two candidates espoused and the record they had of supporting causes near and dear to their hearts, then no it isn’t racism no matter what racial block you pick. For instance, the Republican party has been routinely throwing raw meat to their base by demonizing Hispanics to fire up the jealousies of those who think illegal aliens have caused all their problems. If that causes them to lose a great deal of the Hispanic vote, does that mean that all people of Hispanic descent are racist? No, in fact it means they are reacting to blatant racism focused on them. You reap what you sow.

Um, no. It would likely be true that some of those white voters would be racists, just as it is likely true that some of the black voters in the last election were. So, what is your point, exactly?

I get the point it seems you’re trying to prove – nobody cried “racist” when 96% of black American voted for Obama, but in the reverse situation – 96% of whites voting for McCain, there may have been accusations. To answer your question directly, yes, I think many people would accuse voters of racism if that had happened.

However, I don’t think the situation is as hypocritical as it seems on the surface. For one thing, black Americans are statistically more commonly Democratic, so it’s entirely likely that the majority of those 96% voted for Obama because, y’know, they actually liked him. White Americans don’t have nearly as strong a bias towards one party or another, so 96% of them voting for any given candidate would be more unusual and “suspicious.” Also, I can think of a lot more reasons besides racism that black Americans would be excited to see a black man finally get elected president.

I don’t see it that way. It shouldn’t be about any of that. After all Mr. Obama, when in Ireland found it quite convenient to expound on his Irish roots.

I remember hearing that Obama wasn’t black at all.

@rebbel The complaint was that he wasn’t black enough. He didn’t come from Slavery Black. His father was from Kenya.

@filmfann Yeah, I remember that, and it was also how I meant it.
Maybe I should have put black in brackets.