Scientific confirmation: At a conference in Southern California last week sociologists and psychologists reported on several studies that show something many of us have long suspected: Republicans — especially strong supporters of George Bush — are implicitly biased against black people,.

Another study … explored relationships between racial bias and political affiliation by analyzing self-reported beliefs, voting patterns and the results of psychological tests that measure implicit attitudes — subtle stereotypes people hold about various groups. That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Jones was quick to accuse the researchers of bias, since they had contributed to the Democratic Party.

“There are a lot of factors that go into political affiliation, and snap determinations may be interesting for an academic study, but the real-world application seems somewhat murky,” Jones said.

The research results compared with several other studies that drew similar conclusions.

“Obviously, such research does not speak at all to the question of the prejudice level of the president,” said Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji, “but it does show that George W. Bush is appealing as a leader to those Americans who harbor greater anti-black prejudice.

“If anyone in Washington is skeptical about these findings, they are in denial,” said Stamford psychologist Jon Krosnick. “We have 50 years of evidence that racial prejudice predicts voting. Republicans are supported by whites with prejudice against blacks. If people say, ‘This takes me aback,’ they are ignoring a huge volume of research.”