I’m posting this because I have brought this issue up in some political discussions and people seem to be shocked. The guys over at Freakonomics posted about a new study that show that people may now lie less about minority candidates than in the past.
Basically the idea is that people say they will vote for minority candidates in polls but when election time comes around they don’t. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that people like to say that race isn’t an issue and feel better voting for the minority candidate but in the end they don’t. Consider the case the study and the book gives:

Also in 1989, Democrat David Dinkins, an African American, won victory over Republican Rudy Giuliani in the race for mayor of New York by a slight two points, despite leading by 18 points in a poll conducted by the New York Observer a week before the election.

I also like to use this concept when talking about local news. I would venture a guess that when Nielson diary’s go out and people put that they watched all of some of the local news, they probably didn’t but they just feel good putting that down. It makes them feel smart.
Also if you haven’t ready Freakanomics you should. It’s a great book.