2008 Election: White vote consistent with polls

Although there were a lot of things that interested me in Freakonomics that I would like to mention here, I was extremely curious to see how the white vote faired on November 4 for President-elect Obama compared to the Gallup polls leading up to the election. This interests me because of Levitt and Dubner's assertion that voters lie too, stating that "Might white voters lie to pollsters, claiming they will vote for the black candidate in order to appear more color-blind than they actually are?" (77). That being said, I took a look at the polls. According to CBSnews that referenced a Gallup Poll, Obama was projected to win 44% of the non-Hispanic white vote (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/24/politics/politico/main4544827.shtml). On November 4, 2008 exit polls showed Obama winning 43% of the non-Hispanic white vote, showing that perhaps the white people did not lie when asked by the pollsters prior to the election. There are many other amazing things about the closeness of the projected verses actual numbers, showing that our nation really believes in President-Elect Obama, despite his race. (thank goodness it is about time!!!!) I think this election, given the great margin by which Obama won, would also confirm Levitt and Dubner's argument that "the amount of money spent by the candidates hardly matters at all"(9).

The study of economics is everywhere!!! :-D