South Carolina has an important primary coming up in about two weeks. The African-American vote is going to be vital. It accounts to up to 50% of the turnout in the Democratic primary. Currently according to Survey USA Dean has an overall 25-23 percent lead over Clark with Edwards a strong third at 17% followed by Sharpton with 12%
Because it is often argued by supporters of other candidates that Dean has little support in the minority community I thought it interesting to note how the African-American vote is being divided in South Carolina, according to this poll.
Dean actually leads Sharpton in SC by 27-16 percent with Wes Clark actually coming in second with 21%. Carol Mosley Braun who has now endorsed Dean had 9% of the African-American vote in SC for fourth place among this voting bloc. Will Braun be able to convince her supporters to come to Dean?
http://www.surveyusa.com/2004_Elections/SC040114dempresprimary.pdfHow about some other states?
Illinois has a significant African-American and Latino population. A SUSA poll was done of Illinois prior to Mosley-Braun leaving the race and released last week. Among African-Americans in Illinois Mosley-Braun led with 36%, but Dean was a clear second with 19% followed by Sharpton with 12%, Gep with 10%, and Clark at 5% of the African-American vote.
Among Latinos in Illinois, Dean leads with 35% and his nearest challenger among this bloc is Mosley Braun with 14% and Gep and Clark tied at 12%.
http://www.surveyusa.com/2004_elections/IL040115dempresprimary.pdfTennessee is another state with a significant African-American population which SUSA polled recently. Dean and Clark are in a dead-heat with 27% for Dean and 26% for Clark. But Dean leads Clark among African-Americans by a solid 30-17 percent.
http://www.surveyusa.com/2004_Elections/TN040108demprimary.pdfFinally, DC is 60% African-American and Dean won the primary, yes he won with a strong white vote, but he also got almost a third of the African-American vote overall--a very solid showing in a strongly minority community with two strong minority opponents he was running against.
It befuddles me why we get all the threads about Dean not doing well with African-Americans when in fact, the polls show him to be running best with this group in several states or the top choice of African-Americans among the caucacion candidates.