Two articles have come out yesterday and today, one at the Washington Post and one put out by Reuters, that are dealing with the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll about the presidential race. Given that the articles themselves are almost all about race, race, and more race, maybe that should read "president's race," instead.
Come now below the fold! I've got headlines! I've got summaries! I've got the one thing Americans are more concerned about, but that the media barely mentions! C'mon, how can you pass up that teaser?
Check out the headlines:
3 in 10 Americans Admit to Race Bias
and
Obama's race a campaign issue: poll, interviews
Here's the lead from the WaPo:
As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Here's the lead from Reuters:
PENSACOLA, Florida (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama's race will complicate his White House bid, Americans say in both interviews and a poll showing that nearly a third of them acknowledge feeling racial prejudice.
Now, to its credit, the WaPo writeup does have the sub-heading of Survey Shows Age, Too, May Affect Election Views and its second paragraph is:
Lingering racial bias affects the public's assessments of the Democrat from Illinois, but offsetting advantages and Sen. John McCain's age could be bigger factors in determining the next occupant of the White House.
Did you see that? Even in acknowledging that they even polled about age, they backhanded it in there by starting the paragraph with more about race. That lone mention of McCain's age problem, dear reader(s), is the only mention of it in the WaPo article.
Reuters mentions age in the sixth paragraph:
McCain, who will be 72 in August, would be the oldest elected first-term U.S. president. McCain's age was a more pronounced concern than Obama's race, the survey found.
The rest of both articles are all race in the race, all the time. Whites' opinions of blacks. Blacks' opinions of whites. Whites' opinions of Obama. Whites' opinion of Obama on "black issues." Everyone's opinion about race relations.
Granted, this is what they had to work with from the source material. There was one question about age, to directly compare it to race as a "how important" factor. In addition to that head-to-head question, there were seven other questions about race, race relations, Obama's race, what races you know and hang out with, etc. Seven.
Because hey, race is important! They said so! They asked about it, probed it, queried it, polled it, and yea verily did duly report it unto you, the faithful readers!
So just what was the breakdown in the "race vs. age" matchup that prompted all the race-related race headlines (or is that race-related race headlines?), and garnered a bare half-mention of McCain's age? Lo, I have painstakingly recreated the results for you at mine wee bloggy, and "magically" replicated it here:
Got that? A solid 40% of Americans think age is important, compared to 23 percent who think race is. FORTY PERCENT!!! Age is a concern over race by almost a 2-to-1 margin! Let's not talk about McCain's age, though. God forbid we waste precious column inches discussing why American's are worried about a 72 year-old man whose father was dead at this age and has had multiple bouts with skin cancer taking the oath of office! Why would we want to do that when there is an African-American running for president!?!
Ergo, the race is all about race, no matter what people might be more concerned about. Because doggone it the media has this historimacal racial presidential running story thingy to tell, so they will by golly make it about race! And they are the ones that get to decide these things, bucko. Now move along, and go try to make a few more friends of a different color before the pollsters call again, hmmkay?
Cross-posted at my eponymous sandbox