Barack Obama’s presidential victory naturally led people to believe that the United States might finally be moving into a post-racial era. Obama’s Race—and its eye-opening account of the role played by race in the election—paints a dramatically different picture. The authors argue that the 2008 election was more polarized by racial attitudes than any other presidential election on record—and perhaps more significantly, that there were two sides to this racialization: resentful opposition to and racially liberal support for Obama. As Obama’s campaign was given a boost in the primaries from racial liberals that extended well beyond that usually offered to ideologically similar white candidates, Hillary Clinton lost much of her longstanding support and instead became the preferred candidate of Democratic racial conservatives. Time and again, voters’ racial predispositions trumped their ideological preferences as John McCain—seldom described as conservative in matters of race—became the darling of racial conservatives from both parties. Hard-hitting and sure to be controversial, Obama’s Race will be both praised and criticized—but certainly not ignored.

With President George W. Bush's approval ratings at record lows, the 2008 election was a contest that Democrats were predicted to win. And with Barack Obama's victory over John McCain, they did. But it was the highly unlikely journey to this likely destination that set this presidential election apart from others.

This detailed overview and analysis of the results of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential win gives us the inside state-by-state guide to how Obama achieved his victory, and allows us to see where the country stood four years ago. Although much has changed in the nearly four years since, How Barack Obama Won remains the essential guide to Obama’s electoral strengths and offers important perspective on his 2012 bid. The votes in each state for Obama and McCain are broken down by percentage according to gender, age, race, party, religious affiliation, education, household income, size of city, and according to views about the most important issues (the economy, terrorism, Iraq, energy, healthcare), the future of the economy (worried, not worried) and the war in Iraq (approve, disapprove).

This comprehensive resource explains with detail and clarity the evolution of presidential elections. Now updated to include full coverage of the 2008 contest between John McCain and Barack Obama, the book illustrates the means by which the president is elected—including the complexities of the Electoral College system. Readers will find information on: Who runs for president and how the process works from primaries to inauguration The contests held for every presidential election from 1789 to 2008 The impact of the primary and caucus systems Popular and electoral votes for all presidents from 1789 to 2008 The role of the Electoral College and related political debates A biographical directory of U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates Enhanced with data tables, maps, portraits of candidates, political cartoons, and other illustrations, this unique volume brings to life the history and processes behind presidential elections for a wide range of readers. Priced affordably with limited budgets in mind, this updated edition of Presidential Elections 1789-2008 will become an essential part of public, academic, and high school library collections.

The presidential election of 2012 was hotly contested, with polls showing President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney neck-and-neck at various points during the campaign. In the end, Democrat Obama won reelection by nearly four percentage points at the national level; he won 26 states and the District of Columbia to Republican Romney’s 24 states. Obama’s victory confirmed that the election of the first African American president in 2008 was not a fluke, suggesting that racial attitudes in the United States have indeed matured in the recent past. Bringing together leading political geographers and political scientists, this authoritative atlas analyzes and maps the campaigns, primaries, general election, and key state referenda in the 2012 elections. The contributors offer a comprehensive and detailed assessment of a wide array of election issues and results including presidential primaries; newspaper endorsements and campaign stops; the results of the presidential election at the regional and national levels; and key voting patterns by race and ethnicity, religion, occupational groups, age, and poverty. Moving beyond the national race, the atlas examines important senatorial and gubernatorial races and considers selected state referenda including the marijuana votes in Colorado and Washington and same-sex marriage referenda in Maryland, Washington, Colorado, and Minnesota. The voting patterns identified in 2012 elections are also compared to earlier contests to provide political and geographic context over time. Illustrated with nearly 200 meticulously drawn full-color maps, the atlas will be an essential reference and a fascinating resource for pundits, voters, campaign staffs, and political junkies alike.

Barack Obama's stunning victory in the 2008 presidential election will go down as one of the more pivotal in American history. Given America's legacy of racism, how could a relatively untested first-term senator with an African father defeat some of the giants of American politics? In The Obama Victory, Kate Kenski, Bruce Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson draw upon the best voter data available, The National Annenberg Election Survey, as well as interviews with key advisors to each campaign, to illuminate how media, money, and messages shaped the 2008 election. They explain how both sides worked the media to reinforce or combat images of McCain as too old and Obama as not ready; how Obama used a very effective rough-and-tumble radio and cable campaign that was largely unnoticed by the mainstream media; how the Vice Presidential nominees impacted the campaign; how McCain's age and Obama's race affected the final vote, and much more. Briskly written and filled with surprising insights, The Obama Victory goes beyond opinion to offer the most authoritative account available of precisely how and why Obama won the presidency.

Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign exposed many white Americans more than ever before to a black individual who defied negative stereotypes. While Obama’s politics divided voters, Americans uniformly perceived Obama as highly successful, intelligent, and charismatic. What effect, if any, did the innumerable images of Obama and his family have on racial attitudes among whites? In The Obama Effect, Seth K. Goldman and Diana C. Mutz uncover persuasive evidence that white racial prejudice toward blacks significantly declined during the Obama campaign. Their innovative research rigorously examines how racial attitudes form, and whether they can be changed for the better. The Obama Effect draws from a survey of 20,000 people, whom the authors interviewed up to five times over the course of a year. This panel survey sets the volume apart from most research on racial attitudes. From the summer of 2008 through Obama’s inauguration in 2009, there was a gradual but clear trend toward lower levels of white prejudice against blacks. Goldman and Mutz argue that these changes occurred largely without people’s conscious awareness. Instead, as Obama became increasingly prominent in the media, he emerged as an “exemplar” that countered negative stereotypes in the minds of white Americans. Unfortunately, this change in attitudes did not last. By 2010, racial prejudice among whites had largely returned to pre-2008 levels. Mutz and Goldman argue that news coverage of Obama declined substantially after his election, allowing other, more negative images of African Americans to re-emerge in the media. The Obama Effect arrives at two key conclusions: Racial attitudes can change even within relatively short periods of time, and how African Americans are portrayed in the mass media affects how they change. While Obama’s election did not usher in a “post-racial America,” The Obama Effect provides hopeful evidence that racial attitudes can—and, for a time, did—improve during Obama’s campaign. Engaging and thorough, this volume offers a new understanding of the relationship between the mass media and racial attitudes in America.