Can Obama help heal race relations?

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's groundbreaking candidacy has raised high expectations among blacks and whites that his election would make race relations in the United States better.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of nearly 2,000 Americans also finds that about a third of both groups say the defeat of the first black to clinch a major party's presidential nomination would worsen race relations.

The survey underscores the unusual stakes in this election even though neither Obama nor Republican John McCain has sought to cast their contest as a matter of racial politics but rather one of different prescriptions for the nation's course.

"Much of the Obama campaign has been fueled by hope that if he is successful he could address the most divisive issue in American politics, which is the issue of race," says Vincent Hutchings, a University of Michigan political scientist who studies race politics, but he says blacks and whites have conflicting perspectives on what that means.

"Many blacks look to Obama to help address issues of racial inequality," Hutchings says. "For many whites, Obama's success is Exhibit A that racism or racial barriers are not entirely evaporated but are really not a major problem in America any more."

Tensions between black leaders about the right approach to problems in the black community were evident last week when Jesse Jackson, who twice sought the Democratic nomination, apologized for using a crude phrase to criticize Obama.

The 46-year-old Illinois senator has emerged as the leading spokesman for black America. In the survey, 29 percent of blacks name him as the person who speaks for them on issues of race, more than all other public figures combined.

Six percent identify civil-rights activist Al Sharpton, 4 percent Jackson.

Among the survey's results:

- A majority of all three groups say Obama's election would make race relations better. Blacks are most optimistic: 23 percent say it would make relations "a lot better," compared with 13 percent of whites.

- A majority of whites and Hispanics and 45 percent of blacks say Obama's defeat wouldn't affect race relations, but 18 percent of blacks predict a loss would make race relations "a lot worse"; 6 percent of whites agree.

- By overwhelming margins, those surveyed say Obama's election would be open up opportunities for other blacks in national politics.

Gannett News Service