Ironically, though, racism becomes a greater factor among voters on the left than on the right. Republicans have plenty of reasons to vote against Obama that have nothing to do with race—they might disagree with his health-care plan or think withdrawal from Iraq is a terrible idea. Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to agree with him on policy. When they oppose him, therefore, it's more likely to be due to race. So when people say that Obama might lose because of racists, they're not talking about racist Republicans. They mean Dems and independents. Some Democrats chafe at this idea, arguing that there are perfectly good reasons to dislike Obama. Fair enough. The point is that race becomes a larger factor in voters' decision-making when they agree with him on just about everything else.