Are people who voted for Obama just because he's considered black, racist?

David Kinch 1524

I will answer this question with another question, the fact that there are only 2 major candidates and they are both white, is that not racist?

David Souza 2399

Ask yourself this question: "would you consider someone racist if they voted for Romney because he was white?"
If you answered yes then choosing a candidate because of his/her race is RACISM. It doesn't matter what the race is....

Ladiie Mya 1212

yes i think they are considered racist

Or Karlinsky 1212

YES!

Jim Williams 2367

Since being a racist can go both ways, either you are a racist for believing your race is superior or you are a racist for believing another race is inferior. I would have to say that the percentage of people voting simply because of his race, in this election, was far less than the last election.

Tom Leeds has a valid point. A large percentage of voters base their decision on who has "curb appeal". Ask the average voter two questions and I am sure the results would be close to this...

1. What party affiliation is said candidate? 70% will know

2. Name one of the party platform policies? maybe 40% will know - of that percentage only about 10% of them will completely understand what it means.

People, in general, will vote on a gut feeling over policy. Not because they don't care but, because of history. They believe that most of what politicians say, even the ones they like, is 10% wishful thinking-30% opinion driven and 60% not ever gonna happen!!

In the end I believe the right choice was made.

J

Tom Leeds 1507

The reason most people vote for someone has nothing to do with their abilities or past performance, they vole because there is something about them that they like or something about the other guy that they dislike more.

Marcus Kastler New Brain

There not racist just ignorant there is a little bit of a diffrence. Not much but a diffrence none the less.

Unknown Brain 1212

Voting for anyone on the basis of race is a racist act by definition. As to the other question: Democrats believe that minorities are completely incapable of helping themselves, or they do their very best to repeat this narrative. Expanding welfare is the only way in which Democrats stay elected, much in the same way that the Bible Belt is the only reason Republicans remain in office.

Louis Ayensu-Mensah 1665

If someone voted for him just by the virtue of him being black, then yes, that person would be racist. Hopefully there are about the same number of people who voted for Obama because he was black as the number who voted for Romney because he was not black. And generally, you have minorities vote democrat because that political party tends to be associated with trying to change the nation rather than maintaining the status quo.

Considering dominant vs. subordinate groups/ rich vs. poor, members of minority groups tend to be poorer and therefore prefer to be given a break (Obama would be preferred for this particular example because he believed the middle class, rather than the top 5% - in terms of income - should get tax breaks)

Peggy Brogan 1327

I like what Mitchell Levine has to say about this, but actually, I'm not sure it's an entirely valid question. The charge of "voting for Obama because he's black" has largely been made by the Right Wing in this country, but is there a proven statistic, a valid group of people established as having voted for that reason? I would suspect it's a very tiny percentage of the electorate.

Voting for the President *simply* because he's black would be no different from voting for somebody else *simply* because he's white. To me, it suggests a low information voter rather than a classic "racist." But then how do we explain the phenomenon of other candidates of different ethnic or religious backgrounds? We now have a a new Hindu Congresswoman from Hawaii who will be sworn in using the Bhagavad Gita. Keith Ellison is a black American Muslim who was sworn in with the Qur'an.

Personally, I don't think the charge that people voted for the President because he is black is valid. I think it's been manufactured by the Right as a distraction.