The Reverse Bradley Effect [View All]

[Plaid Adder]

You have all no doubt heard about the Bradley Effect in relation to Obama's poll numbers (the phenomenon whereby Black candidates poll higher than they perform, attributed to the fact that a significant number of people are ashamed to admit that they would not vote for a guy because he's Black, but not ashamed to actually do it).

One of my friends is married to a Republican. She says she asked him, "If you did vote for Obama in November...would you ever tell me?" Wearing his trademark enigmatic grin, he said, "Nnnno..." in a manner which to her clearly indicated that in fact that's what he plans to do: vote Democratic and just never admit it.

I would discount this as anecdotal and worthless were I not hearing similar stories from other people I know who have Republican friends and family. Palin is a polarizer, and although she has the rightwing base chortling with delight, she is really pushing away the fiscal Republicans--the ones who are more worried about what happens with the stock market than what happens after the Rapture. Cause they can tell she's a disaster, and they can also tell that McCain is old.

So I am going to hope that for everyone polled who claims they will vote Obama but really won't, there's another Republican who claims he will never vote Democratic but really will.

I can hope,

The Plaid Adder