How Much Does Race Still Matter? - NYTimes.com

How Much Does Race Still Matter? - NYTimes.com: Earlier this month, I wrote about research by social scientists at Brown and the University of Michigan who reported that despite the fact that President Obama won a higher percentage of the white vote than any Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, racial resentment had increased during Obama’s first term.

Over the past three weeks, a number of experts in race relations have brought contrary findings to my attention.

Seth K. Goldman and Diana Mutz of the University of Pennsylvania find that the Obama 2008 campaign, in and of itself, had a strong, positive impact on racial attitudes. The two have co-written a book, “The Obama Effect: How the 2008 Campaign Changed White Racial Attitudes,” which will be released later this year by the Russell Sage Foundation.