Easley: Reverse Bradley effect possible

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:49:43 -0400

Gov. Mike Easley says many rural voters will end up backing Barack Obama.

In an interview on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC Wednesday, Easley said that he thinks many people who said they would not vote for Obama will end up doing so because of their economic interests.

He said that would be the opposite of the so-called Bradley effect, in which voters supposedly lie to a pollster about their support for a black politician for fear of looking racist.

"My barber tells me — and this is a guy who can … legally put a razor to your throat and ask you a question, so that’s a good focus group that he's getting all day long — he says we're going to see a reverse Bradley effect," he said. "There's a lot of people that have been saying all along they'd never vote for Barack Obama, but they’re going to go in the voting booth and they’re going to do it because it's in their economic interest."

Easley said that Obama is expanding his outreach into rural areas Down East and argued it is working.

"I saw a pickup truck Monday," he said. "A guy riding in it with a shotgun in the back and he had a camo hat and two Obama stickers. I think the message there is I like McCain, but I love my job."

Easley also argued that younger voters who use cell phones are more likely to back Obama and may not be contacted by pollsters who use traditional landlines.

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Easley: Reverse Bradley effect possible