Did racist voters cost Obama the primary?

Barack Obama's shock defeat in New Hampshire is being linked to the so-called Bradley effect, which suggests that although voters claim to support black candidates they will vote for the white runner on the day

Haroon Siddique
Wednesday January 9, 2008
Guardian Unlimited


Barack Obama. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


It seems strange to be looking for the reasons for Barack Obama's shock defeat in the New Hampshire primary. Just a few weeks ago Hillary Clinton was the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to contest the presidential election but that was before the Illinois senator stormed to victory in the Iowa caucus.

His campaign seemed to have built up an unstoppable momentum, which was reflected in opinion polls that had him comfortably ahead. So how did the pollsters get it so wrong?

Continued . . .