WASHINGTON, June 22: More than half of America’s white majority voters consider presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama a ‘risky’ choice for the White House, whereas two-thirds believe Republican candidate John McCain is a ‘safe’ pick, a new survey has revealed.

The survey by The Washington Post/ABC News also opens up apprehensions of the race factor being whipped up by white supremacist groups as a way to stop the first serious African contender for the White House from winning.

The survey has shown that over half of whites called 46-year-old Illinois senator a ‘risky’ choice for the top post, while two-thirds said Mr McCain is a ‘safe’ pick.

About two in 10 white voters said Mr Obama would over-represent the interests of African-Americans.

But 43 per cent of the whites also said that he has sufficient experience to serve effectively as president.

An overwhelmingly majority – nine out of ten – said they were open to the idea of electing an African-American to the presidency; but fewer whites – two-thirds – said they would be “entirely comfortable” with it.

The survey urged the Obama campaign to give more attention to the race factor, suggesting that it could play a critical role in states like Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana where racial feelings run high.

Overall, 51 per cent of white voters contacted for the survey called the current state of race relations “excellent” or “good”.

More than six in 10 African-Americans, however, rated race relations as “not so good” or “poor” while 53 per cent of whites hold more positive views.

Unlike in the recent Newsweek poll where Mr Obama had a 15-point lead over 71-year-old Mr McCain, the Post/ABC survey showed the Illinois Democrat leading by only six percentage points.

The Obama campaign is working hard to minimise the issue of race in this November’s presidential election.

Earlier this month, the campaign launched a website to defuse rumours that the hate-mongers spread on the internet.

The site lists a series of untruths about Mr Obama — that he is Muslim; that his books contain racist passages; that his wife, Michelle, used the word “whitey” — and discredits them.