Some interesting stuff in a new New York Times poll focused on the issues of race and politics. In the headline, John McCain leads Barack Obama among whites, 46 percent to 37 percent. Obama leads among blacks, 89-2. Obama leads among Hispanics, 62-23. Seventy-two percent of black respondents say they think Obama will win in November, while 50 percent of whites say Obama will win.

Picking out some random stuff: Sixty-two percent of blacks consider Obama very patriotic, while 32 percent of whites do. Fifty-six percent of blacks consider McCain very patriotic, while 77 percent of whites do. Michelle Obama is viewed favorably by just 24 percent of white voters, while her favorable rating among black voters is 58 percent. (Substantial numbers of people still don’t know enough about her to say.) And when asked whether they would personally vote for a presidential candidate who is black, 91 percent of whites said yes, while 88 percent of blacks said yes. That one seems to be within the margin of error.

And, toward the end of the poll, this question: “Just as your best guess, about what percentage of all Americans are black: less than 10 percent, between 10 and 20 percent, between 20 and 30 percent, between 30 and 50 percent, or more than 50 percent?” Virtually no one said less than ten percent. Twenty-one percent gave the correct answer, which is between 10 and 20 percent. Thirty-two percent answered between 20 and 30 percent. Another 32 percent answered between 30 and 50 percent. And nine percent said more than 50 percent. Which means that 73 percent of respondents overestimated, many of them by a huge margin, the percentage of the American population that is black. I think these numbers are consistent with the results of other polls, but they are still amazing.