Stats say racism defeated racino

Pat LaMarche:  Racism and the racino voteSo, Dennis Bailey, point guy for CasinosNO!, says racism had nothing to do with the voters rejecting the Washington County racino. Well, Dennis, I wouldn’t bet on being right.

Statistically, it’s pretty much impossible for racism not to have played a part. But let’s save analytical data for later.Later:Here are those statistics I promised: A 2006 CNN poll shows that "most Americans consider racism a lingering problem," and while only 1 in 8 Americans think of themselves as racist, nearly half—regardless of color—know somebody who is. According to another report, that naivete is prevalent. University of Connecticut professor Jack Dovidio, who has spent 30 years studying this stuff, estimates that "up to 80 percent of white Americans have racist feelings they may not even recognize."

But when it came down to last week’s vote, 1 in 8 racially motivated individuals was plenty. See, the CasinosNO! folks defeated the racino by a margin of 4 percent; 1 in 8 is a margin of 12.5 percent. When the Indians say that the election results could have been racially motivated, that doesn’t mean all the voters, they mean enough to change the outcome.