The Race Factor in Pa. Primary

NYT blog
By Katharine Q. Seelye

Updated Although 19 percent of voters in Pennsylvania said that race played an important role in how they voted, Gov. Ed Rendell, who was Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief architect in the state, says it did not appear to be “much” of a factor.

Mr. Rendell got into some hot water back in February when he said of the Pennsylvania primary: “You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.”

Now, exit polls from yesterday’s primary appear to confirm that view. The polls, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the five television networks and The Associated Press, asked voters if the race of the candidate was important: 19 percent said yes, while 80 percent said no.

Of those who said yes, 59 percent voted for Mrs. Clinton and 41 percent voted for Senator Barack Obama.

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