Poll: Voters say Obama's race a non-factor

PRINCETON, N.J., June 10 (UPI) -- Most U.S. voters say race won't be a factor in the November presidential election, but many think campaigns will make race an issue, a Gallup poll indicated.

Seventy-eight percent of blacks and 88 percent of whites said the race of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes no difference, given that his likely nomination would make political history -- the first African-American candidate to be a major party's nominee, the Gallup tracking released Tuesday indicated.

In a hypothetical matchup with presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, TR-Ariz., 93 percent of blacks would vote for Obama, pollsters from the Princeton, N.J., company said.

However, 48 percent of blacks said the Democrats' campaign will make race a factor this year, while 70 percent said Republicans will use race as an issue.

Whites were pretty evenly split on the question, the Gallup tracking data indicated. About half said each party will use race as a campaign issue.

Results are based on national telephone interviews conducted May 31-June 1 with 1,012 adults. The overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent. The sampling error for non-Hispanic whites is plus or minus 4 percent.

Results for blacks are based on national telephone interviews May 30-June 2 with 250 blacks, some of whom were drawn from Gallup's May 30-June 1 national sample. The total sample error is plus or minus 7 percentage points.