To Some Extent, But Mostly Not Have White Voters Changed Their Minds About Voting About for a Black Presidential Candidate? To Some Extent, But Mostly Not

“Would You Vote for a Qualified Black Candidate of Your Own Party “Would You Vote for a Qualified Black Candidate of Your Own Party?” (Whites Only) Gallup 1958 Gallup 2007 Yes 34% 93% No 58% 5%

Data Problems Gallup Poll data is proprietary, but GSS data is open to the public: http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/ Unfortunately, the largest (absolute) change in white opinion [30% point reduction in “no”] was prior to 1972, for which no GSS data is available.

The 1972-1996 Trend

We Would Expect Opinion to Vary with Age