Linky. Will this have an effect on the upcoming US election? It could, if it can get some socially conservative black people to the polls who would have otherwise stayed home due to Obama’s support for same sex marriage.
Of course this depends on a few factors like:
– How heavily otherwise moderate black people listen to the NAACP
– How many would-be Obama supporters would stay home just because of his stance on SSM, and
– How this would shake out in actual election results, which would depend on swing states and/or the existence of marginal districts with lots of black people, the latter of which seems to be fairly rare due to the twin effects of the “concentration” strategy of gerrymandering and the demands for minority-safe districts under the Voting Rights Act.
I applaud the NAACP’s stance on this. I just don’t know how large its effect will be.
Does the NAACP have a recent history of being a voice for the average colored person or are they agenda driven to move colored people more to the left?
I think this is more significant as an effect than as a cause. The opinions of black people as a whole don’t follow the NAACP; more, the opinions of the NAACP follow those of black people as a whole. If they’re endorsing SSM, that’s a sign that blacks (like most demographics) are becoming more comfortable with it.
