After 69 percent of voters said they had seen a recent McCain ad that suggests Barack Obama is a celebrity like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, only 22 percent said the ad was racist, while 63 percent said it was not, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports.
When Obama said in a speech that McCain would try to scare people away from him by pointing out that he doesn't look the presidents on dollar-bills, 53 percent of voters said that was racist, while 38 percent disagreed.
Breaking down the votes against Obama's comment, 53 percent of white voters saw it as racist, as did 44 percent of African-Americans and 61 percent of all other voters.
Barack Obama's statments were a response to criticism from McCain that Obama had been "playing the race card".
Rasmussen Reports had no figures about a McCain ad shown below that ran in late June and which transplanted Obama's face onto a $100 dollar-bill.
Although John McCain said he is dead serious about the issues in his ads, he added that, "We’ll continue to have humor in our campaigns," in an interview with ABC News.
"I kind of enjoy 'em," McCain said of the ads. "You gotta have a sense of humor in this."
"You know, a few days ago, Sen. Obama said he challenged me to a duel," McCain said. "I’m for the light sabers as weapons of choice."
After 69 percent of voters said they had seen a recent McCain ad that suggests Barack Obama is a 