I think the fact 8% of whites are uncomfortable with voting for a black candidate has more to do with the fact that blacks are very easily identifiable with the far left of politics. Very few black conservatives have name recognition beyond conservative circles, so they probably didn’t factor in to the preferences of that 8% of whites. Perhaps they also fear a McNabb effect, where the press won’t hold a black president to account like they do a white, which is certainly the case with Obama–I couldn’t see the press treating him 1/100 as critically as they treat Bush.
Finally, it should be noted that this primary season has shown the inverse to the 8% of whites who won’t vote for any black candidate: if given the chance to vote for a black guy, 90% of blacks will do it every time. Why isn’t that racist, or the fact that blacks tend to dismiss the GOP as the “white party” without any explanation of why?
