# How Racist Are We? Ask Google **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 11, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771 "2012-06-11T00:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/1 "2012-06-11T00:37:04Z")
[http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/](http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/) An interesting bit of research using Google tools done by SETH STEPHENS-DAVIDOWITZ. In some areas President Obama may be losing significant numbers of votes as compared to a white candidate. > [@](#): > > The state with the highest racially charged search rate in the country was West Virginia. Other areas with high percentages included western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, upstate New York and southern Mississippi. > > Once I figured out which parts of the country had the highest racially charged search rates, I could test whether Mr. Obama underperformed in these areas. I predicted how many votes Mr. Obama should have received based on how many votes John Kerry received in 2004 plus the average gain achieved by other 2008 Democratic Congressional candidates. The results were striking: The higher the racially charged search rate in an area, the worse Mr. Obama did. > [@](#): > > Add up the totals throughout the country, and racial animus cost Mr. Obama three to five percentage points of the popular vote. That’s a pretty bad handicap to start an election with. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/2 "2012-06-11T03:45:21Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > In some areas President Obama may be losing significant numbers of votes as compared to a white candidate. I don’t think anyone with much knowledge of humanity would deny that. In the same vein, nobody with much of a clue is going to deny that Obama gains significant numbers of votes as compared to a white candidate in other areas. In point of fact, the Obama campaign made increasing turnout among people with an increased willingness to vote for a historical candidate a major part of their strategy. It’s interesting in an as-far-as-it-goes way, but it’s hardly some rock-solid proof of the conclusion the author is trying to advance. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/3 "2012-06-11T12:04:05Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I don’t think anyone with much knowledge of humanity would deny that. In the same vein, nobody with much of a clue is going to deny that Obama gains significant numbers of votes as compared to a white candidate in other areas. In point of fact, the Obama campaign made increasing turnout among people with an increased willingness to vote for a historical candidate a major part of their strategy. > > It’s interesting in an as-far-as-it-goes way, but it’s hardly some rock-solid proof of the conclusion the author is trying to advance. I think he said that effect was small in comparison. Probably because any Democrat would receive most minority votes in any case. But a white felon getting 40% of the primary vote in West Virginia is embarassing for that state and never would have happened in the case of a white president. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/4 "2012-06-11T12:28:16Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > I think he said that effect was small in comparison. Probably because any Democrat would receive most minority votes in any case. Yes, he said that. I don’t think it’s nearly an adequate approach to the issue. For one, there was a not-insignificant number of people – minority and non-minority – who, had a black man not been running, would simply not have voted at all. Moreover, I personally know of multiple _caucasian_ people who are political centrists (i.e. they vote for multiple parties), who voted for Obama, and who did so in part _because_ of his race. I don’t know that people like that comprise a huge sector of the electorate, but it’s not nothing. Simply saying “anyone voting for Obama would have voted for any Democrat” is not nearly adequate. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/5 "2012-06-11T23:09:14Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > But a white felon getting 40% of the primary vote in West Virginia is embarassing for that state and never would have happened in the case of a white president. But this doesn’t exactly make sense even on its own face. This is the Democrat’s primary your talking about, and the same voters turned out for Obama in the last election. Yes, the state went heavily Republican, but that wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Note that compared to 2004’s election, Obama lost a whopping… 0.7% of the total vote to McCain. African-Americans are also a tiny portrion of the total (less than 4) so this isn’t a case of a massive black turnout being overwhelmed by a bigger black-hating turnout. ---
**Author:** ![Incomprehension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@Incomprehension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incomprehension)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/6 "2012-06-24T19:28:21Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > African-Americans are also a tiny portrion of the total (less than 4) so this isn’t a case of a massive black turnout being overwhelmed by a bigger black-hating turnout. Social Justice in the form of a parable The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER [[[DELETED]]] > **[The Ant and The Grasshopper -- An Allegory For The Country](https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/the_ant_and_the_grasshopper_--_an_allegory_for_the_country.html)** > > Absurdity is often an excellent way to make a point. Aesop thought so when he created the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. But just how much of a fable was it? > This email updates Aesop's attempt at absurdity. Unfortunately for the country,... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/7 "2012-06-24T19:40:00Z")
And this has what to do with, well, anything? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/8 "2012-06-24T21:37:43Z")
> [@Incomprehension](#): > > Social Justice in the form of a parable > > The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER > > [[[DELETED]]] > [The Ant and The Grasshopper -- An Allegory For The Country - American Thinker](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/the_ant_and_the_grasshopper_--_an_allegory_for_the_country.html) Cool story, bro. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/9 "2012-06-24T22:13:26Z")
Parables eh? Let’s see how Jesus compares to the font of wisdom, Incomprehension. > [@Jesus](#): > > Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. > [@Jesus](#): > > No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. > > Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? > > Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? > > Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? > > And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: > > And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. > > Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? > > Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? Sounds like a dirty friendly hippy to me. By the way, your parable doesn’t even alight on the supremacy of property laws. Imagine if one of the many grasshoppers intruded on one of the few ant’s expansive gardens in order to toil for his meals? It wouldn’t be fair that an ant’s property which was earned by virtue of birth be intruded on by a grasshopper desiring to subsist, would it? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/10 "2012-06-24T23:40:28Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Parables eh? Let’s see how Jesus compares to the font of wisdom, Incomprehension. Jesus is criticizing greed, not capitalism. Remember that one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not steal”. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/11 "2012-06-24T23:59:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And this has what to do with, well, anything? Perhaps this was **Incomprehension’s** personal attempt to answer the question asked in the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/12 "2012-06-25T00:14:16Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > I think he said that effect was small in comparison. Probably because any Democrat would receive most minority votes in any case. > > But a white felon getting 40% of the primary vote in West Virginia is embarassing for that state and never would have happened in the case of a white president. Quite possibly, a lot of those 40% were people who think Obama was too moderate and protest-voted as a result. After all the Peace and Freedom Party’s candidate in 2004 is a convicted cop-killer in prison. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/13 "2012-06-25T15:46:34Z")
> [@Qin Shi Huangdi](#): > > Remember that one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not steal”. Right. It follows directly that since he’s criticising people’s considering their clothes, food and shelter, that property is theft. Guess that settles it - he’s not only a dirty friendly hippy, he’s an _anarchist_. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/14 "2012-06-25T16:10:10Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Jesus is criticizing greed, not capitalism. And then there’s the bit about wealthy men, heaven, camels, and needles’ eyes. Also, his admonishment to his followers when they did not treat an old woman who had given her last two coins with utmost respect. There’s a heavy implication in his actual teachings that any accumulation of wealth beyond what is necessary for maintaining life (not lifestyle) is a knock against you. I guess that’s still greed vs capitalism, but, if so, Jesus’ definition of greed was a lot more strict than our modern one. > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Quite possibly, a lot of those 40% were people who think Obama was too moderate and protest-voted as a result. After all the Peace and Freedom Party’s candidate in 2004 is a convicted cop-killer in prison. Yeah, and it’s possible that 9/11 was actually an inside job. Just because it’s “possible” doesn’t make it likely or even reasonable. I will note that the “Peace and Freedom Party” never got anything close to a 40% result in any election district. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/15 "2012-06-25T16:27:12Z")
re: the new guy’s parable post: It’s not even original, so he might have made a copyvio. I’m reporting it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/16 "2012-06-25T16:34:24Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > In some areas President Obama may be losing significant numbers of votes as compared to a white candidate. Bear in mind that in 2008, Obama got a higher percentage of white voters than John Kerry did in 2004 (43% vs. 41%). Polls show that his support among whites has dropped since then, but that’s matched by the Democratic Party as a whole, which drew 37% of white voters in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/17 "2012-06-25T16:36:09Z")
**Incomprehension** , I’ve deleted the story you posted. I am not sure if you’re the original author, and if you’re not, your choice to post it without attribution made it look like you wrote it. I’ve placed a link to what I think is the original source. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/624771/18 "2012-06-25T16:45:34Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Bear in mind that in 2008, Obama got a higher percentage of white voters than John Kerry did in 2004 (43% vs. 41%). Polls show that his support among whites has dropped since then, but that’s matched by the Democratic Party as a whole, which drew 37% of white voters in 2010. By the same token, Obama got a higher percentage of _all_ voters than Kerry. That’s why the OP’s “study” compared geographic increases.