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plumped for Mr Obama. That augurs well for the future—the younger generation clearly have no insurmountable prejudice against a black candidate, and will doubtless teach their children, too, to be tolerant. This is a longstanding trend. In 1937 the notion of a black president was so far-fetched that Gallup did not ask people how they felt about it. By the mid-1960s a slim majority of Americans said they might vote for one. Last year only 5% admitted that they would never vote for a black.
People sometimes lie to pollsters, however. And even those who would not rule out voting for a black may have reservations. In Wake Forest, North Carolina, Steve Rehmar, a struggling white businessman, says that either Mrs Clinton or John McCain could govern, but that Mr Obama scares him. Mr Rehmar says he found pictures on the internet of Mr Obama failing to put his hand over his heart during the pledge of allegiance. He also mentions Jeremiah Wright, Mr Obama’s former pastor.
It is doubtless unfair to judge
Mr Obama by the company he keeps. Like any politician, he has to snuggle up to all sorts. But since Mr Obama has such a short record in public life, voters have little to go on but their perception of his personality. And that is inevitably influenced by footage of his spiritual mentor hollering damnation on America and speculating that the government is trying to wipe out blacks with AIDS.
Rev Wright reminds many whites of everything they find alarming about black America. Mr Obama is plainly neither unpatriotic nor a conspiracy theorist, and has denounced his former pastor’s outbursts vigorously. But some voters remain unconvinced.
To beat Mr McCain in November, Mr Obama must persuade Americans that youth and intelligence trump age and experience. He must convince them that Mr McCain represents a third term for George Bush. And he must persuade wavering whites that he is genuinely post-racial.
This will not be easy, because in many ways black and white Americans see the world differently. (So, for that matter, do Asians and Hispanics.) To take one example: most blacks favour racial preferences for minorities in such things as university admissions. Most whites do not. Mr Obama artfully fud-ges the issue. He concedes that his own daughters probably should not qualify, and hints that perhaps universities should look more at economic disadvantage and less at race. But...
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