http://www.youtube.com/v/H13adWiFyNM
by Frank James
Geraldine Ferraro’s comments about the role that Sen. Barack Obama’s blackness has played in his political success are fodder for the Sunday talk shows. During a speech, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee was reported as saying: “Barack Obama would not have made it this far if he was a white man?”
So it’s worth taking a look at how Democrats responded to her later explanation of what she was saying.
HCD Research Inc. did a focus group of 431 Democrats showing them Ferraro’s defense of her remarks during an appearance on Fox News last week where she’s a frequent commentator.
The researchers asked the respondents if they agreed with Ferraro’s comment from the speech about the importance of Obama’s race to his success, then showed them Ferraro’s Fox News defense of the statement.
The percentage of Democrats who agreed with Ferraro’s statement on the importance of Obama being black to his political achievements rose slightly to 34 percent from 29 percent.
Meanwhile, respondents were asked before and after seeing Ferraro’s defense if her statement was racist. After seeing her defense 42 percent said it was, compared with 48 percent beforehand.
After viewing her defense, 45 percent of the Democrats said they agreed with her explanation while 46 percent said they didn’t.
Even so, 45 percent said she should’ve resigned from her campaign position as vice chair of the finance committee. Only 39 percent said she shouldn’t resign. HCD used its MediaCurves technology to show the real-time reaction of respondents to a video of Ferraro’s appearance on Fox. The curve shows that viewers mostly stayed with Ferraro and didn’t violently disagree with her on anything.
The one time the curve spikes sharply upwards is when Ferraro speaks admiringly of Obama and the campaign he’s run. But the curve stays in positive territory the whole while, indicating wide agreement with her defense of her comments.
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