Results from an opinion survey on “Racial Attitudes and the Presidential Nomination,” conducted by Professor Fredrick Harris, who directs Columbia's Center on African American Politics and Society, show that African-American votes are up for grabs for both leading candidates of the Democratic Party and the skin color of the candidate will not automatically translate into African-American votes.

“The study reveals the enormous value black voters place on diversity in evaluating the effectiveness of the presidential nomination process,” says Harris. “Like most voters, blacks value the process producing a candidate that can win the general election, but they place far greater emphasis on the process giving minorities a voice, and producing an ideologically and regionally diverse ticket. Clearly, black voters are both pragmatic and idealistic, balancing candidates’ electability with candidates’ commitment to racial, regional and ideological diversity.”

For a link to the published results and to the Center on African American Politics and Society, click here.