Obama Now Leading Among Black Voters
BET.com News Staff & Wire Services Posted March 1, 2007 – When it comes to presidential candidates, all of a sudden Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is Black folks' favorite.
According to The Washington Post, Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) lead is shrinking, and Obama has pulled ahead among African-American voters. The shift in support comes just one month after most early polls showed Black voters backing Clinton – findings that African-American leaders disputed.
In a BET.com News poll last month, our users overwhelming chose Barack as their early presidential choice.
Although Clinton is ahead of Obama overall, her lead has been cut in half of late.
Analysts say some of Clinton’s luster is tarnishing for refusing to apologize for her vote in 2002 that gave President Bush the OK to go to war with Iraq. Obama opposed the war from the beginning.
John Zogby, an independent pollster whose latest data show that Obama leading Clinton among Black Democratic voters 36 percent to 27 percent said both Clinton and Obama face questions about electability in the general election, but there is firmer opposition to her candidacy in the electorate than there is against Obama's.
"Her third problem is that she has the misfortune of running against Jack and Bobby in one year," says Zogby, referring to President Kennedy and his brother Bobby, in a loose comparison to Obama and the third top contender in the Democratic race, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. "They are not to be taken lightly at all. As we see, Barack in particular right now is cutting into a very solid Clinton constituency."
The Black vote is crucial in the primaries. One-fourth of primary voters nationwide are African American.
With the latest poll numbers, do you believe Obama has a strong chance at winning the presidency in 2008? Click “Discuss Now” to talk about it!