African American Voter Registration Drives

The Washington Post has an article about the Obama campaign’s efforts to register African Americans in order to boost his vote totals in important states.  The article focuses mainly on Georgia, where the Obama campaign believes it has a chance if it can increase the Black Vote enough.

The interesting thing, which the article briefly touches on but doesn’t discuss in great detail, is the problem of the white vote.  Statistics have shown that whites are much more likely to back a white candidate (in a two candidate race with one white and one black candidate), when the population has a higher percentage of African Americans.  Conversely, when the African American population is lower, the whites are less likely to vote for a white candidate in overwhelming numbers.

The Obama campaign is actively working to increase the number of registered African Americans, but will that be offset by a decreased percentage of the white vote?  I sure hope not, but it does seem possible given the data.