Poll: Voter Opinions Mixed About Obama's Race Speech  | News | Advocate.com

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March 28, 2008
Poll: Voter Opinions Mixed About Obama's Race Speech

Barack Obama 's speech on race has left the public divided on whether he has sufficiently put the issue behind him, a poll shows.

Even so, the Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey released Wednesday showed that Obama's remarks and the attention paid to comments by his longtime pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, so far have had little effect on his race with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Videos of Wright sermons include one in which he shouts ''God damn America'' for its treatment of minorities. He also has said the U.S. government invented AIDS to destroy ''people of color'' and has suggested U.S. policies were to blame for the 9/11 attacks.

In a speech last week, Obama rejected Wright's divisive comments but stood by him otherwise and said it is time for the country to address its racial schism.

By 55% to 32%, more who had seen or heard about Obama's speech said they were satisfied with his explanation of his association with Wright than said they were dissatisfied.

Yet people familiar with Obama's remarks were about evenly split between those who said they felt reassured about his feelings on race, and those who said they still had doubts. Slightly more said Obama has said enough about race than said he needs to address it further.

In all instances, whites were more dubious than blacks about whether Obama had handled the issue successfully. Democrats were far more supportive than Republicans, while independents were likelier to be divided. (AP)

© 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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