Since Barack Obama has sealed the Democratic nomination, more voters say they are willing to vote for an African-American presidential candidate than ever before. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 85% of Likely Voters say they are willing, up from 78% in early June. In February, that figure was 73%.

While most voters are becoming more comfortable voting for a black president, they are not so sure about their family and friends. Sixty-four percent (64%) now say they believe their family, friends and co-workers would be willing to support a black candidate, up slightly from 61% in June.

Today, just 8% say they would not be willing to vote for an African-American President and 13% say their peers would not. In June, 11% said they would not vote for an African-American candidate, while 14% said that of their peers.

There is, however, a significant generational issue. While 75% of senior citizens say they would vote for an African-American candidate, just 49% say their peers would do the same. Sixteen percent (16%) of seniors say their peers would not vote for an African-American and 34% are not sure. A person who is 65 today would have first been eligible to vote in 1964, the year when Lyndon Johnson was first elected. A major Voting Rights Act and other civil rights legislation passed in that year. For a thirty-year old voter today, those events were in the history books during pre-school days.

Men have become increasingly more comfortable voting for an African-American candidate. In February, 70% of men said they would be willing to support a black candidate, which jumped to 74% in June. This month, that number has jumped to 84%, just a point below the percentage of women who say they would be willing to vote for a black candidate.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of white voters say they would vote for a black president, up from 78% in June. The number of black voters who say they would support a candidate from their own race has also increased; 90% say they would vote for a black president, up from 84% last month.

Republicans are less likely than Democrats to think their family and friends would vote for a black president. Just 57% of Republicans say that is the case, down from 60% in early June. Meanwhile, 71% of Democrats say they believe people they know would be willing to support a black candidate, up from 66% last month.

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