Secret racists

In every past election, it was tacitly assumed that, for a small but significant set of voters, the choice ultimately came down to which candidate they 'liked the look of,' for reasons they couldn't explain. Such voters were, in past elections, thought ignorant but benign, an inevitable aspect of a democratic process in which you need not prove you're informed in order to vote. (I should note, by 'look' I mean in part physical appearance, but also just the general idea of the candidate, anything but issues, imagined impact on America's image abroad, or anything else substantive).

In this election, the 'I like the look of him' voters are all assumed to be making choices based on subconscious feelings about race and (to a lesser extent) gender. Which brings up the question: are there any voters who simply like the look of McCain, without being secret racists? Or who like the look of Obama, without caring about the racial-justice angle of electing the first non-white president?

I ask this because there's a certain assumption going around--especially about elderly Florida Jews and Appalachian residents, but about others as well--that behind each anti-Obama vote is a racist, conscious or subconscious. For some Obama supporters, it's inconceivable that a rational being would not support their candidate; if only we could remove the factor of race, he'd have a unanimous win. This of course ignores the votes Obama will get, from voters of all races, because he's black. But more importantly, there are reasons having nothing to do with race why some will vote for McCain: 1) belief that abortion is murder, 2) belief that the older the president, the better, 3) belief that McCain's about to keel over, and that we need a female president, 4) fear that if Obama wins, political comedy will lose, 5) loyalty to the Republican party, and so on. Whether these reasons are good is not the point. They are reasons, and they've got nothing to do with race.

But what of voters with no reasons, who simply prefer McCain to Obama, because that's how they feel, because they prefer the word 'maverick' to the word 'hope'? They're mediocre citizens, fine, but are they racists? Some surely are, but all?

As an Obama supporter myself, I'm not sure what great help it's been to the Obama campaign that so many of its fans are looking for ways to show the racist side of all political opponents. This is precisely what will give the pro-Obama side false confidence.