Is racism alive and kicking in US? The polls will tell

ATLANTA: Some Barack Obama supporters fear his campaign to become US president could be derailed by an old, familiar obstacle: race.

They cite evidence of racially polarized voting in the primary contests as the reason for their pessimism over the Illinois senator's prospects against Republican presidential candidate John McCain in November's election.

Their fears over Obama, who could be the first black president of the US, are rooted in the history of a country where millions of Africans were once enslaved. And despite comprising about 13 percent of the population today, they fare relatively badly across many social and economic indices.