Some polls have found that white support for President Obama has dropped to unprecedentedly low levels, and this topic is getting no end of media attention. Gawker wrote “Gee, White Voters really don’t like Barack Obama. Huh.”
But this misses a central point: Since the mid-1970’s Democrats have had a white voter “problem.” Obama is a Democrat. This is by far the best lens through which to view white support for Obama. Conversely, it is also the best lens through which to view black support for Obama. For example, LBJ received essentially the same level of black support in 1964 as did Obama in 2008. [cont.]
Eric Juenke, Michigan State U. (The Monkey Cage)