Carter: Race Plays Role in Obama Dislike - UPDATED: White House rejects racism claim, page 11

The recent election provided the ideal ground for these type of studies, thought they might fit best here...

Racial Prejudice Predicts Opposition to Obama and his Health Care Reform Plan
Eric D. Knowlesa, Brian S. Loweryb and Rebecca L. Schaumbergb

aUniversity of California, Irvine

bStanford University

Received 19 October 2009; revised 23 October 2009. Available online 3 November 2009.

Abstract
The present study examines the relationship between racial prejudice and reactions to President Barack Obama and his policies. Before the 2008 election, participants’ levels of implicit and explicit anti-Black prejudice were measured. Over the following days and months, voting behavior, attitudes toward Obama, and attitudes toward Obama’s health care reform plan were assessed. Controlling for explicit prejudice, implicit prejudice predicted a reluctance to vote for Obama, opposition to his health care reform plan, and endorsement of specific concerns about the plan. In an experiment, the association between implicit prejudice and opposition to health care reform replicated when the plan was attributed to Obama, but not to Bill Clinton—suggesting that individuals high in anti-Black prejudice tended to oppose Obama at least in part because they dislike him as a Black person. In sum, our data support the notion that racial prejudice is one factor driving opposition to Obama and his policies.

Implicit and Explicit Prejudice in the 2008 American Presidential Election
B. Keith Paynea, Jon A. Krosnickb, Josh Pasekb, Yphtach Lelkesb, Omair Akhtarb and Trevor Tompsonc

aUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

bStanford University

cThe Associated Press

Received 27 August 2009; revised 30 October 2009. Available online 5 November 2009.
Abstract

The 2008 U.S. presidential election was an unprecedented opportunity to study the role of racial prejudice in political decision making. Although explicitly expressed prejudice has declined dramatically during the last four decades, more subtle implicit forms of prejudice (which come to mind automatically and may influence behavior unintentionally) may still exist. In three surveys of representative samples of American adults, explicit and implicit prejudice were measured during the months preceding the election. Both explicit and implicit prejudice were significant predictors of later vote choice. Citizens higher in explicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Barack Obama and more likely to vote for John McCain. After controlling for explicit prejudice, citizens higher in implicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Obama, but were not more likely to vote for McCain. Instead, they were more likely to either abstain or to vote for a third-party candidate rather than Obama. The results suggest that racial prejudice may continue to influence the voting process even among people who would not endorse these attitudes.

Not a surprise to me.