Poll: Jackson, Rice atop ‘most important black leader’ list

[The Straight Story]

Poll: Jackson, Rice atop ‘most important black leader’ list

By Will Lester
Wire Service Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Condoleezza Rice get the top support among blacks asked to name the nation's "most important black leader," according to an AP-AOL Black Voices poll. Next come Colin Powell and Barack Obama.

Many blacks question whether any one person can wear the leadership mantle for such a large and diverse group of people. At the same time, two-thirds in the poll said leaders in their communities were effective representatives of their interests.

When blacks were asked to come up with the person they considered "the most important black leader," 15 percent chose Jackson, a civil rights activist who ran for president in the 1980s, while 11 percent picked Secretary of State Rice, eight percent chose former Secretary of State Powell, and six percent named Obama, a freshman Democratic senator from Illinois.

About one-third declined to volunteer a name.
Two of the four mentioned most often - Rice and Powell – are from a Republican administration that is unpopular with most blacks.

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