Miss. Dem. Racial Divide

[emilyg]

: 09:48 PM ET

Obama and Clinton supporters in Mississippi appear divided among racial lines.
(CNN) – Mississippi Democratic voters were sharply divided among racial lines in Tuesday's primary, exit polls indicate.

As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton 91-9 percent.

But Mississippi white voters overwhelmingly backed the New York senator, supporting her over Obama 72 percent to 21 percent.

According to the Associated Press, only two other primary states were as racially polarized — neighboring Alabama, and Clinton's former home state of Arkansas.

The exit polls also indicated roughly 30 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 60 percent of those voters supported Obama.

In Ohio, roughly 1 in 5 voters said race factored into their decision. Roughly 60 percent of those voters picked Clinton over Obama.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Filed under: Exit Polls • Mississippi




120 Comments | Permalink


Florida Dems oppose

more...... http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

[provis99]

1. Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas; not a single surprise there

Why would anyone expect anything other than racial polarization in Southern states? I'm more surprised when some Southern states aren't racially polarized.

[LisaL]

3. So, out of 30 % who said race was important, 60 % supported

Obama.
I recall there was a lot of outrage over 20 % "race was important" voters in OH, cause 60 % of them picked Clinton.

[provis99]

9. I din't say just whites were polarized; both races are in Mississippi

a white politician has as much chance of being a Congressional Representative from the delta districts as a black politician does at being a representative from a district east of Jackson. Racism in the South has poisoned everybody.

[Jillian]

2. That is amazing.

And they will remain a red state in November.

[scheming daemons]

7. No.... if Obama's the nominee... Mississippi is in play for Dems...

Here's why..... 45% of the population is black.

Obama would only need to get about 25% of the white population and he would win the state, as long as he got 90%+ of the black population.

[provis99]

11. Mississippi is about 35% black. Obama has no chance in Mississippi

The whites will vote upwards of 90% for McCain; they normally vote 80+% for Republicans. I wouldn't be surprised if Mississippi whites voted 95% for McCain over Obama, even among white Democrats; white Democrats in Mississippi are no less racially biased than white Republicans are. A lot of that "Dixiecrat" mentality still exists there.

[ExtraGriz]

13. rethugs took miississippi in 2004 60%-40%

its not going blue in 08

[scheming daemons]

14. Black turnout was historically low in MS in '04.... it will be historically high in '08... that...

..is the difference.

[NJSecularist]

15. Not it is not

Whites consist of 65% of the population in Mississippi and they overwhelming vote Republican. Bush got 90% of the white vote in 2004 in MS.

[Skittles]

4. I think the real racial test will be

will they vote for the Dem nominee in the general election no matter what the color - yes

[psychopomp]

5. Racial politics from Team Clinton seem to be effective

Thanks, Clinton team, for pushing the race slant as an issue!

[LisaL]

6. Oh give me a break.

[psychopomp]

10. Okay, you may take a break

:shrug:

[Frances]

12. It is ridiculous to blame Hillary

for racism.

She and Bill both were the targets of white racists for years. If Obama were white, those racists would be voting for him instead of Hillary because they would vote for any white over Hillary.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Upton]

8. What this demonstrates more than anything else

is racism is alive and well in Miss. Man, that's one state they couldn't pay me to live in.

[cooolandrew]

16. Let's not focus on who voted for him but that he won thatis all that counts.

The MSM are clearly whipping up racial unrest better to show Obama's grace and keep soldiering oon for more votes. Barack got exactly what was expected in polls.

[onenote]

17. The very definition of something that's not news: there is racial divide in the vote in Mississippi

Yes, there was a racial divide in the vote in Mississippi. Guess what. There is always a racial divide in Mississippi. In 2004, Kerry got 9 out of 10 of the African American votes and chimpy got 85% of the white votes. In 2000, Gore got 96 percent of the African American vote and chimpy got over 80%. And in the 2004 primary, Kerry got 82 percent of the African American vote and Al Sharpton picked up less than 10 percent.

So, yes indeedee...African Americans vote as a bloc in Mississippi, as they do in most parts of the country (and as other groups do as well, such as Jews and fundamentalist christians to name two). But, as the 2004 primary shows, African Americans don't always vote for an African American.

And I have a question for those that suggest that Obama only won in Mississippi because of the African American vote: if HRC had attracted the same percentage of African American voters as Obama attracted white voters, who would've won? The answer? Obama. And if you excluded repub voters (who went for HRC by 76/24 and made up 13 percent of the total vote), it wouldn't have been close.