Bunzel writes in The Sacramento Bee about his concerns with respect to the impact the race issue will have in the fall's presidential election. Here is the heart of his concern:
An American National Election Study conducted in l988, l992 and 2000 found that racial animosity was highest among males rather than females, those without a college degree, those who worked in blue-collar jobs or as laborers, and residents of small towns in the Midwest and the South.
These findings, as New Republic senior editor John B. Judis has noted, "more or less correspond with the profile of white voters who spurned Obama in the primaries."
The data from the national election study showed that Latinos were nearly as prejudiced against blacks as whites, and that a group labeled "other," which included Asian Americans, was even more prejudiced against blacks.
