Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Bradley Effect

Something I heard on the BBC last week was all about the "Bradley Effect".

Bradley Effect: = tendency for white voters to tell interviewers or pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate, but then actually vote for his white opponent.
[SOURCE: wikipedia.com]

Apparently, The Bradley Effect is named after the 2nd African-American mayor of an American city, Tom Bradley. Mr. Bradley lost the California
governorship race in 1982 and 1986 to the same Caucasian opponent. Apparently the Bradley Effect may be putting Obama ahead of McCain in the polls…. if Obama was the same person but white, he would be heading for a landslide victory. Such is the world we live in.

8 comments:

The Author said...

Yes, I read this too and it scared me shitless.

Abena Serwaa said...

What fascinated me most is that people would go to lengths to appear to not have prejudices but at the same time still hold them dear.

The Author said...

Would you like me to send your blog addy to Ghanablogging? It is a service we are all involved in. It's a basic collection of all blogs out of Ghana, and it lists all the latest postings. You can even read them from there. See ghanablogging.com. Are you interested?

Abena Serwaa said...

Please do! I would be most hono(u)red.. *Thanks*

Courtnee said...

Ab, I have to go with Michelle Obama on this Bradley effect thing. She said if the Bradley effect were in play, Barack probably wouldn't have gotten the nomination in the first place also. Additionally, since this Bradley business took place a black man was elected governor of my dear home state of Virginia in 1990. Hopefully, that means that there's nothing to worry about as far as that goes. Here's a really moving story about an 88-year-old white woman who voted for Obama on her deathbed. There's also an article on racialicious.com about racists voting for Obama.

Abena Serwaa said...

Thanks for the insight C (aka Bronze Bombshell..I didn't know you had this blog!!) Unfortunately, my pessimistic take on it is that he may have gotten through the nomination process because Dems tend to be more open-minded, liberal and maybe even more Black compared to Repubs. In other words, the people who backed the nomination may differ in outlook to the greater American population.

Don't you think that in the wider American landscape made up of Reds, Blues and independents, the Bradley Effect may come into play?
But then again, I can't see those dudes I used to see flying confederate flags back in AL and GA really lying about voting for Obama when they didn't! Anyway, I'm still excited about the very real prospect of a President Obama being sworn in!
Racialious.com? Interesting name...will have to check it out.

The Evangelist said...

Hi there,

Obama will definitely win this election...most definitely!

Still, there are many white voters who are "claiming" to be UNDECIDED who will vote for McCain...now that is just the raw truth!

However...Carter won because blacks were voting in large numbers...Clinton won because blacks were voting in large numbers...and blacks are going to be the crucial factor in this election as well.

I will be coming to Accra in a few months so I will continue to read your blog and keep up with your writings!

(smiles)
Paul

Abena Serwaa said...

Thanks Paul for the insight, I did not realize the black vote was that powerful.Also thanks for reading my ramblings and I look forward to hearing your perspectives about Accra!