[Verginius Rufus]

The polls are useful. They let Obama know how many votes have to be manufactured to win.

I wonder who was the first candidate to win a Presidential election despite getting a smaller number of votes from white voters than his opponent. Maybe Truman in 1948. Probably true of Kennedy in 1960, Carter in 1976, Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and Obama.

[Bubba_Leroy]

I wonder who was the first candidate to win a Presidential election despite getting a smaller number of votes from white voters than his opponent

LBJ was the last Democrat to get more than 50% of the white vote.

[Verginius Rufus]

Come to think of it, Truman probably wasn't the first successful candidate to get fewer votes from white voters than his opponent--it may have been Garfield in 1880, followed by Benjamin Harrison in 1888.

And of course there was the election of 1824, where Jackson had more popular votes, and more electoral votes, than John Quincy Adams, but the number of non-whites voting would have been very small and not a factor in the outcome.

[Truth29]

"The polls are useful. They let Obama know how many votes have to be manufactured to win."

You know those 16 to 30 year old Hispanics who allegedly have been here for five years who are going to get work permits? You can bet they are also going to be registered to vote - legality has nothing to do with it.

[Cyber Liberty]

The polls are useful. They let Obama know how many votes have to be manufactured to win.

That's why I lie like a rug whenever a pollster calls me.