Democratic presidential front runner Barack Obama may be close to locking up his party nomination but he faces tough task of convincing the white voters, including some in his own party, to vote for him in the November elections, a just released poll shows.
Obama, the Newsweek poll shows, trails presumptive Republican nominee John McCain by 12 percentage points - 40 percent to 52 percent - among registered white voters. His challenger Hillary Clinton too trails McCain but by a much smaller margin 44 per cent to 48 per cent.
But among voters overall, however, Obama fares better, tying McCain 46 per cent to 46 per cent in a hypothetical match-up. This is down slightly from the last Newsweek Poll, conducted in late April, in which Obama led McCain 47 per cent to 44 per cent.
In that contest, he is boosted by a strong showing among non-whites, leading McCain 68 per cent to 25 per cent. Clinton leads McCain 65 per cent to 25 percent among non-whites.
But even this result shows some of the electoral challenges facing Obama in a year when Democrats generally appear to hold an electoral advantage, boasting a 15 point advantage in generic party identification over Republicans, 53 per cent to 38 per cent.
Clinton fares slightly better against McCain: 48 per cent to 44 per cent. She enjoys this slight edge even though Obama leads Clinton 50 per cent to 42 per cent as the choice of registered Democrats for the party's nomination.
Clinton's white support is unusually high: at a comparable point in the 2004 election, Democratic nominee John Kerry received the support of 36 percent of white voters, compared to George W Bush's 48 percent, and in June of 2000, Bush led Al Gore 48 percent to 39 percent.
Obama's race, says Newsweek, may well explain his difficulty in winning over white voters. In the poll, participants were asked to answer questions on a variety of race-related topics including racial preferences, interracial marriage, attitudes toward social welfare and general attitudes toward African-Americans.
Respondents were grouped according to their answers on a "Racial Resentment Index (RRI)." Among white Democrats with a low RRI rating, Obama beat McCain in a hypothetical match-up 78 per cent to 17 per cent. That is virtually identical to Clinton's margin in the category, 79 per cent to 13 per cent.
But among white Democrats with high scores on the RRI, the picture was very different: Obama led McCain by only 18 points (51 to 33) while Clinton maintained a much larger 59-point lead (78 to 18).
Who exactly are these high RRI voters? A majority, 61 per cent, have less than a four-year college education, many are older (44 percent were over the age of 60 compared to just 18 per cent under the age of 40) and nearly half (46 per cent) live in the South.
Confusion over Obama's religious background may also be hindering his ability to attract white support.
Asked to name Obama's faith, 58 percent said Christian (the correct answer), while 11 per cent said Muslim, 22 per cent did not know and 9 per cent said others.
Obama's name could be contributing to the confusion; 18 per cent of white Democratic voters say they judge the Illinois senator less favourably because of his name, compared to only 4 per cent of white Democrats who say it makes them judge Obama more favourably.
While the poll clearly suggests a lurking racial bias in the American electorate, the role of race in residential politics may be diminishing, the news magazine says.
In 2000, only 37 percent of voters thought the country was ready for a black president. Now, 70 percent think a black candidate like Obama could win the White House.