Today, millions of Americans of all ethnicities, religions and orientations will converge to select the next president and vice president of the United States. How will race and gender factor in the decision for the presidency? Many UW students, faculty and staff agree that the two factors will have an influence on this historic election.

For junior Nick Jacob, this election will clearly be affected by race.

“There will be some white voters who will not vote for Barack Obama for the simple fact that he doesn’t look like them,” Jacob said. “However, there will also be some black voters who vote for Obama just because he does look like them. Which voter is worse for having this type of attitude? It’s racism either way, so I’d argue neither is worse than the other; they’re equally as ignorant.”

Jack Turner, assistant professor in political science, believes an Obama presidency will “bolster belief in the American political system among African American citizens, who for understandable reasons have harbored suspicion of the system for generations.”

“I also think the positive impact among children will be profound,” Turner said. “Having this generation’s preschoolers, kindergarteners and elementary schoolers grow up with an African American in the White House has the potential to reshape public opinion about what’s possible for racial and ethnic minorities in America and also undermine insidious white supremacist attitudes which still get transfered across the generations.”

Ashley Knecht, a recent UW graduate, thinks that even though many have moved beyond the aspect of race and gender in politics, there are some who will never look beyond what they see with their eyes.

“Yet, as much as there is a negative there is also a positive for these candidates,” Knecht said. “Either outcome for the election we are looking at a ground breaking statement: America’s first black president or our first female vice president.”

Despite progressive strides in race relations in the Pacific Northwest, prejudice and sexism still exist in many parts of the country and has tainted the presidential race with accusations of candidates playing the race card and twisting the context of their words.

Senior Andrew Cargill, a double major in anthropology and political science, worked as an intern for congressional candidate Darcy Burner this past summer knocking on doors and noticed some peculiarities among voters.

“I have met many people who refer to Obama often as the n-word, yet say they will vote for him,” Cargill said. “People seem to me to be putting race aside.”

Cargill also mentioned he knew many conservative Christians who were voting for Obama but did not want to tell their friends.

“I’m not sure how widespread my anecdotes are,” Cargill said. “But I won’t be surprised if tomorrow in some areas you see [the] ‘reverse Bradley Effect’ — watch North Dakota, Montana, and the southern states of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.”

The Bradley Effect is a theory wherein some voters tell pollsters they are likely to vote for a black candidate but vote for the white opponent on Election Day. The effect is named after Tom Bradley, a black candidate who lost the 1982 California governor’s race despite being ahead in the polls.

Dean Baker, co-director for the Center of Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C., clearly believes race has created conflicting expectations.

“Clearly Senator Obama has been held to a much higher standard of conduct because of his race than his opponents,” Baker said. “This has manifested itself in a variety of different ways. For example, suppose that instead of Sarah Palin, it was Senator Obama who had an unmarried 17-year-old daughter who had gotten pregnant. It’s difficult to believe that there would not be endless accounts questioning his fitness as a parent and therefore his qualification to be president.”

Baker went on to compare the role of Michelle Obama with that of Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband.

“In the same vein, Michelle Obama has repeatedly declared herself to be a loyal American,” Baker said. “By contrast, Sarah Palin’s husband actually belonged to a political party that advocates secession from the United States. Imagine what the response would be if Michelle Obama had belonged to a black nationalist group that advocated blacks be given a chunk of the country and allowed to secede. In these instances and numerous others, Senator Obama has been held to a much higher standard than would have been the case if he were white.”

However, most students refuse to involve themselves in racist and sexist squabbles and prefer to focus on what matters most.

“The bottom line is that race or gender shouldn’t matter when choosing a president,” Jacob said. “What should matter is their qualifications, their preparation to be president, and their positions on the issues.”

Reach reporter Anthony Shelley at

news@dailyuw.com.