[M]ost of the votes that Mr. Obama actually loses belong to well-meaning whites who believe in racial equality and have no objection to electing a black person as president — yet who discriminate unconsciously.
“In the U.S., there’s a small percentage of people who in nationwide surveys say they won’t vote for a qualified black presidential candidate,” [Yale psychology] Professor [John] Dovidio said. “But a bigger factor is the aversive racists, those who don’t think that they’re racist.”
Faced with a complex decision, he said, aversive racists feel doubts about a black person that they don’t feel about an identical white. “These doubts tend to be attributed not to the person’s race — because that would be racism — but deflected to other areas that can be talked about, such as lack of experience,” he added.
And my favorite quote:
[A]t times, Mr. Obama’s race helps him: … it appeals to some whites as a demonstration of their open-mindedness…
Emphasis mine.
Refer back to a definition of racism as “not just personal ideology, but a system of advantage based on race.”
