If the "black" candidate in this election was the republican, would he be favored by the African American community?

Party wouldn’t matter if color was the concern.

If I read your question correctly, you asked:

If the [insert color here] candidate was [insert party affiliation here], would he be favored by the [insert color here] community?

….it just seems that a lot of the [insert color here] seemed to be more concerned with “color” than issues.

Ok – so my thing is – you have two disjointed ideas here – are we discussing the party affiliation, or the concern with issues? My goal for reiterating was to remove all other variables and make it as sterile as possible.

I think most people will be voting on Novemeber based on things that are important to them: the war, the economy, the enviornment, their childrens’ future, etc.

Basically, if Barack Obama was Republican, would he still carry as many of the minority votes as he does now?

@ googlybear: I don’t think most voters (ANY kind WHATSOEVER) are that informed of themselves. I think most of it is directly from the media and party-bashing commercials.

Probably not, because he wouldn’t have the same platform that he’s running on now; people are attracted to his platform and the idea of “change” rather than the color of his skin, at least in my opinion….

Pretty presumptuous to think that ethnicity would guide a minority’s vote.

I don’t care whether it’s minority or majority, I just think most people vote based on who’s most popular.

To answer that question – I do believe he would. One generalization I hate is how so many Americans assume that all or most blacks are Democrat or other, and rarely Republican.

And if people followed the conventional belief in this country, which is that blacks will vote for blacks because they are black, why would this question carry any weight?

@thenakedhippie: Are we talking about American Idol or the elections in November?

I can assure you – that any dark skinned american who is from [family raised in america, culturally FROM these places] anywhere in the caribbean, south america, africa, india, or europe will always be conservative.

Democrats are distasteful for people of these backgrounds… too liberal for their conventions.

So yes – I believe regardless of party – Barack Obama would carry the popular vote – because of WHO HE IS. period.

@googlybear: haha, unfortunately, I think they’re practically the same.

In essence – you havne’t changed barack obama by asking this question – you just changed his party affiliation.

And everyone knows party affiliations are a bunch of hooey.

@Squirbel: Yeah, but not to a large percentage of voters.

To answer the question, I would hope that all voters stand behind and vote for the candidate whose policies most readily align with their own. I would say that having a black candidate has shown minorities that there is power to be had and that this election has broadened the representation of ethnic minorities, which would have happened whether the black candidate was a Democrat or Republican.

@squirbel: While the moderates have merged and seem rather close in ideology, I would beg to differ and would say that there is still a large divide between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.

It seems to me that A) city dwellers tend to be more liberal in general, thus more likely to be democrats and B) poor city dwellers tend to be even more likely to believe in democratic ideals and are more likely to be African American or another minority. Appears to be the ideal conditions for African Americans in cities to support Obama. I wouldn’t say they’d support him if he espoused conservative republican views and policies. I would support Obama even if he was purple. (I am caucasion, BTW)

@NakedHippie & squirbel- Yeah, sure. Alan Keyes really got the black vote when he ran in 1996 and 2000, nearly getting the presidency. Remember?

Geez, this is like saying that nominating a running mate that was a minority might sway some voters opinions because their minority presidential candidate wasn’t chosen…

But yes, uniformed voters (of all sizes and shapes) who don’t hold particularly strong positions on issues will usually sway toward someone with whom they feel an affinity. I think Colin Powell would have a good cross-racial appeal as a candidate and would likely win a lot of votes regardless of which party he represented.

@fireside: I always hoped he’d run!

Colin Powell told the American people a bald-faced lie. I, for one, am glad he didn’t run.

@augustlan – he promised his wife that he wouldn’t because she was afraid he would be assainated.

@ac- yes, I’m sure he will regret his time in the Bush administration for the rest of his life.

Yeah…, he should have run right after Clinton.

At this point it seems that most of the race bias belongs to the majority here. Of course none will admit it, they’d say “he’s not worthy because his neighbor blew up a statue, not because he’s black, we’re not scared of black people at all, we just don’t believe he can shoot a wolf from a moving plane and then crash that plane and 2 more after that. It’s about character and John McCain and Sarah Palin look more like that desperate sad sack I see in the mirror everyday?” I’m pretty pale by the way, and the only people I know who support McCain are religious fundamentalists and/or old as dirt, not groups of people known for tolerance of other cultures or sharp thinking.

Good answer, banana. I lured you, haha ;]

Just look at the audience.

The Dem convention was full of people of all races.
The Rep convention was full of white people with a smattering of blacks

Campaign rallies are similar.

NakedHippie: I don’t agree with: “I don’t care whether it’s minority or majority, I just think most people vote based on who’s most popular.” But I do believe that in the end people vote on a superficial basis.

There are many republican leaders who are totally shocked that McCain has morphed into a “big governement liberal”, but the mass that supports him don’t challenge his ideas.

@jvgr: Exactly, they vote superficially. That’s where this question came from.

No. If Obama had the same position on the issues as McCain, he would not have support from the majority of the African American community. Maybe the rich ones, but not the middle and lower classes.

Squirbel is right about blacks that are culturally from overseas, they tend to be more conservative. I have neighbors from South Africa that are extremely conservative but they’re still voting for Obama.

The question is demeaning to black people because it is taking in the premise that black people are not smart enough to chose a president who they believe is right for the job and that they would vote for any candidate because of his skin color.

Black people are smart enough to have opinions and are able to decide just like white people who they want to run the country.

GAMBIT: I am not suggesting that black people are incapable of choosing a president responsibly. I am basing this question on the assumption that most people (of any color or creed) vote superficially.

No. You’d have to be well beyond stupid to be a minority that supports the Republicans. I’m not saying they don’t exisit, but certainly not in significant numbers.

@TheNakedHippie, why would you make that assumption? How many people do you know vote superficially? Everyone I know are taking this election very seriously because we may loose our 401K’s and retirement funds. We have family members fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We would like to be able to afford healthcare for our children and we are concerned about the cost of food and other needed items.

@GAMBIT: I did not specifically direct this at you or your family, but generally speaking, whether you want to believe it or not, people don’t know how to vote.

@NakedHippie, Again you are making assumptions you are saying “that people don’t know how to vote”. How many people do you know that don’t know how to vote? Are you stating that if they don’t vote for your candidate that they don’t know how to vote? Your assumptions are critically unfair anyone can choose who they want to vote for any particular reason. This is a free country not a dictatorship.

@GAMBIT: I know plenty of people that don’t know how to vote. People vote based on emotions, not on what makes sense. When did I say that I think people should vote for my candidate? You have no idea who my candidate is, I guarantee you.

I have yet to hear a compelling reason to elect either candidate from anyone.

Really?
Three weeks from the election and you have yet to hear a compelling reason to vote for either candidate?
Really?

What issues do you consider when you place a vote for President?

@TheNakedHippie, Again you are making an assumption “people vote based on emotions, not on what makes sense” what people are you talking about are you talking about yourself? Where are you getting all this “people do this and people do that”? What people? Do you have any proof about what you are saying?

Anyone that watches FoxNews is a certifiable moron, and last I checked that was still a significant portion of – at least – American TV viewers. I think it’s safe to assume all if those people have no idea what either candidate really stands for and therefore “doesn’t know how to vote”. Honestly, Democacy seems completely wasted on Americans and makes me seriously doubt if it is actually a workable political system for the future. Not that what the US has is even a democracy anyway… It’s more of a corporate-ocracy, with very little left that is “by the people, for the people”.

@Maverick: Agreed. It’s all show.

@Maverick – Corporate-ocracy = Fascism

Wondering if Maverick is all that crazy about his user name right about now…

I think this is a great question. I kind of wonder the same thing. I mean it seems kind of ridiculous but I think that many would vote republican. (and also I am not a racist and I do not mean this is any racist way)

I cant remember where I found this (probably digg) but Howard Stern sent one of his workers to interview black people in harlem and ask who they were voting for and pretty much everyone said Obama and one said Mccain.

But whenever the individual said they were voting for Obama the reporter would feed them Mccain’s agenda they would respond “yeah yeah that’s why I am voting for Obama. I’m anti-stem cell research. I wouldn’t do that either”

And then ironically enough, the one black guy they found who said he was voting for Mccain was fed Obama’s plan and the same effect happened where they said they were gonna vote for Mccain because of some issue that Obama is for an Mccain is not.

Very interesting. You can listen to the audio clip here on youtube. it’s worth a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5p3OB6roAg

@arcoarena Yes, but did they air the voters who saw through their scheme, or just what supported their point? Is this investigative journalism or just “good radio”? I don’t know. When I see Jay Leno “proving” how stupid Americans are I feel uneasy. I do believe people vote for all kinds of reason, and that many are uninformed. But I also believe that people actually participate and get informed, and vote with the head as well.

Though Cicciolina’s mockery of democracy in Italy and the rise of Right extremism in the EU make me gloomy.

Why is it not racist to refer to darker skinned people as African American?

@BBQsomeCows Huh?

Not if the black republican candidate was a true conservative.

@TheNakedHippie, don’t fall all over yourself to insist you aren’t a racist when posting or commenting about race. It harms your credibility.

Handling race oriented subjects with such caution and fear just serves to perpetuate ‘racism’.

The last election could very well have pitted Barack Obama against Colin Powell. Only then would you have known for sure.

No. They would call him an “Uncle Tom.”

It’s possible. A lot of the blacks that I talked with shortly after the election stated outright that they voted for Barack because he was black himself.
I have a clip from what I believe is Howard Stern’s radio show, wherein a number of people are presented with the candidates – running on each other’s platforms. None of the people who made it onto the air even flinched at the difference.