How will you vote? A guide to controlling your political bias

By Molly Elfers, Jessica Bray

Have you heard?

"John McCain has one foot in the grave."

"Sarah Palin is a redneck who shoots animals from helicopters."

"Barack Hussein Obama is a terrorist."

In a historic presidential election, our country is faced with serious decisions about the future. It would seem wise then, to know the proposed policies of the candidates in and out. Yet in many cases, our biases are becoming the basis for our votes.

Why might this be detrimental? Because of the amount of misleading information and the emotional responses that result.

Recent media coverage of the election shows the McCain campaign accusing Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists". One McCain supporter even commented that she didn't trust Barack because he was "an Arab," an example of false information. Yet biases on both sides of the political spectrum are influencing voters.

"It is important that we all realize that no one political side holds all of the biases," says Dr. Sondra Thiederman, one of the nation's leading experts in bias reduction. "In the diversity field, we have a tendency to act as if all biases are held on the political right - we need to realize that both political sides are bringing bias to the table."

So what kinds of political biases are out there? Below are examples of some of the types of biases that members of either party may hold:

Democrats may be biased against:

• Age: John McCain is 72 years old
• Language: Sarah Palin has an accent and uses terms like "you betcha" and "Joe six-pack"
• The Religious Right: Sarah Palin describes herself as a "Bible-believing Christian"
• Hunters: Sarah Palin hunts animals
• Militarism: John McCain strongly supports military solutions
• Divorce: John McCain has been divorced
• Republicans: Seen as favoring the rich and powerful

Republicans may be biased against:

• Race: Barack Obama is part African American
• Foreign Names: Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein
• Highly Educated People: Barack Obama graduated from Harvard (perceived as elitist)
• Women: Hillary Clinton was the first woman of a major political party to run for president
• Smoking: Barack Obama is an ex-smoker
• Non-Christians: Barack Obama for having a father who was, at one point, Muslim
• Democrats: Seen as tax-and-spend liberals

Regardless of what party we associate with, we all have some sort of bias, whether positive or negative. The good news, according to Dr. Thiederman, is that these biases aren't permanent. She outlines ways to recognize and overcome bias in her book, Making Diversity Work: 7 Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace:

Become mindful of your bias: Take a moment to observe and analyze your thoughts. Ask yourself if you would feel the same about the candidate if they were from a different demographic group. For example, if John McCain were a 40 year old female, would you feel the same about his policies?

How are your biases detrimental?: Think about the effects your bias may be having. Someone who is biased against all members of a political party is likely making broad generalizations that do not apply to many people. By holding biases against specific candidates, you may be prematurely dismissing a candidate who actually has policies you agree with, but haven't really given a chance. A misinformed vote based on bias could send our country in a direction you don't ultimately agree with for four years.

Find the source: Think about your personal reasons for holding a bias. Are there deeper issues at hand that may be the source of your thinking? If so, these issues should be addressed. Think, for example, of the woman who claimed that Senator Obama was an Arab. Because this woman uses ethnicity as a reason not to trust Obama, it indicates that she may hold a deeper bias against Arabs or those of Middle-Eastern descent. Her challenge is to investigate why she holds that bias.

Reconcile your bias: Once you've realized what biases you have and where they come from, you can decide to push it aside:

"We are not our thoughts, our thoughts are tools that we produce to help us survive. Because we produced them, we naturally have the power to manipulate them," explains Thiederman. "Even if we can only keep the biased thought out of the way for a few seconds, we can peer through that break in the fog and see the person accurately." Though this process might seem difficult at first, it gets easier with practice.

Don't let biases resurface: Although we can get rid of our biases, it's not that they can't come back or that we can't develop new ones. Always being aware of your thoughts and analyzing your reasoning is a great way to ensure that biases aren't sneaking back in.

Biases are part of human perceptions, and they don't make you a bad person; it just means you've got some work to do. Even Dr. Thiederman, who is an expert in diversity, admits to a bias toward John McCain because of his experience in the Vietnam War. Awareness of her bias, however, has enabled her to rationalize, and regardless of whom her vote goes to in November, she knows that McCain's war record is not reason enough to vote for him as president.

So will you vote for McCain because he's white? Will you vote for Obama because he went to Harvard? Or, will you vote based on policy and character? If we choose to set aside our political biases, it will allow us to come together as a culturally diverse America and decide the direction of our country that will truly reflect the views of its citizens - not their biases.

Dr. Sondra Thiederman can be reached at: stphd@thiederman.com

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Molly Elfers is the Editorial Intern at DiversityCentral.com.

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