Opinion: Are Voters Really Knowledgeable About U.S. Presidential Candidates?

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Surprisingly, the interviewees were not aware of Obama's platform, nor who his VP was, as they all agreed that Obama had chosen a good running mate in Sarah Palin. The other questions asked were about the Iraq war and abortion.

In the blogosphere, the right-wingers are in hysterics, saying that this just proves that African-Americans are only supporting Barrack Obama because he's black, and that they really don't know what his policies are.

Vice-Chair of Democrats Abroad France's Zachary Miller is a solid supporter of Obama had this to say,

"This is nothing new. It's an easy thing to do - to find people who don't know what they should know. If you're willing to stand there asking people, then you'll get the answers you want by the end of the day."

Zachary said that this exactly how Bush was elected, that the poor white Americans voted without knowing the issues. He feels that right now people are too busy trying to survive in light of the economy problems that they don't have time to pay attention to all the issues.

Another supporter from Harlem, who belongs to "Harlem 4 Obama", gives her thoughts,

"It's obviously a gaffe. Perhaps Howard Stern is trying to make a mockery. If he is it's sad. People tend to think that African Americans are not abreast of what's going on but it's not true. African Americans in Harlem are reading the papers, watching the news."

She says that Obama speaks a language that they 'understand'. She continues,

"We have so much work to do we won't stop and poke fingers and moan about this."

Although I am not a fan of Stern, I have to wonder if this is true across the board, that regardless of race, sex, and religion, people haven't taken the time to get to know the candidates and what they stand for because day to day survival is weighing in as being more important.