Race and Polls

The issue of race is inevitably linked to the Obama campaign. Previously, I have written about the overt racism that has been directed towards Obama's campaign and I have wondered whether the polls are accurately reflecting the race issue.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story on how the pollsters approach this subject and try to get accurate results.

Peter Hart, a Democrat on a bipartisan team conducting the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, estimates that 10% of current Democrats and independents who say they support presumed Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama may not be giving a fully honest answer, at least based on their responses to broader questions about race. "This election is exceptionally tricky," he says.

It should come as no surprise that people lie to pollsters in order to look god, to project the image of themselves to a stranger that they want the stranger to believe, rather than what one would consider the absolute truth.

This is one reason I tend to think that polls are inflating Obama-positive results by approximately 2%-3%. This may or may not have enough power to effect the election results and result in a John McCain presidency.