The historic gap between blacks and whites in voter participation evaporated in last year's presidential race, according to an analysis released today, with black, Hispanic and Asian voters comprising nearly a quarter of the electorate, setting a record.Obviously, part of this is history. I doubt it will be the same in the next few presidential elections. That said, I think we're getting a glimpse of the future here. I'm thinking back to that meme about Mark Penn and him writing off states that "don't really matter." How'd that work out? Yeah...
The analysis, by the Pew Research Center, also found that for the first time, black women turned out at a higher rate than any other racial, ethnic and gender group...Together, black, Hispanic and Asian voters made up nearly 24 percent of the voters, compared with about 12 percent in 1988.
The analysis found that southern states with large populations of black eligible voters recorded the greatest increase in turnout rates. In Mississippi, the rate increased by 8 percentage points, from 61.7 percent in 2004 to 69.7 percent in 2008.
Mr. Obama scored upsets in several southern states, which were attributed to the growing number of migrants from other parts of the country, younger voters and a surge in turnout among blacks.
« More On "Not Counting" | Main | Change You Can Believe In » This Is Excellent News. For Palin.30 Apr 2009 02:00 pm
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is incredible:
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This is excellent news! For Byron York!!
The punditocracy will be getting the vapors over this information for the foreseeable future and the decline in real power of the old white cracker will be lamented and commented upon ad nauseum.
This is a sea change that we are witnessing. It's a great thing to be a part of and the fact that the future is so wide open when it comes to politics is tremendously inspiring.
Amen.
I hope that we are seeing a new age in which black and other minority women feel more empowered. They've had a long hard row to hoe. As a white, middle-class woman who often feels challenged(!!) by the difficulties in my (relatively) simple life, I bow to my sisters who are making it work in much more difficult circumstances that i have ever faced.
I gotta say, Mark Penn has struck me as a complete noob.
Mark Penn is the kind of guy who was sinking cash into Lincoln Savings and Loan in 1989, Pets.com in 2000, and Merrill Lynch in 2008.
In other words, a compl33t n00b. I think that's the first time I've typed words like that in about 15 years.
"Noob" means "newbie". Penn's been around forever. He's no noob.
The first letter should be "b".
I almost asked why this was excellent news for Palin. Fortunately, I saved myself--and hopefully some others, by writing this here--when I flashed back to your post from yesterday.
I'm not afraid to be humiliated. Why is this good news for Palin?
Because Palin gets to appear on American Chopper.
It's not good news for Palin, he is just being sarcastic. In fact, someone just explained this in a recent TNC thread. What TNC is spoofing is the how in the 2008 Democratic Primary between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Pres. Barack Obama, all news was interpreted by some members of the MSM and the Hillary camp as "Excellent News for Hillary." This happened even if the news was actually bad for Hillary and favored Obama. Anyway, that is what I think he means.
You know we were turning out for Michelle and her man. ;)
*insert reference to yesterday's idiotic "why do black women hate white women" comment here*
Sorry, I'd risk being sarcastic, but it's probably not worth it. Oh well.
Wasn't there a portion of the punditocracy that had maintained following the election that there actually *wasn't* that much increased turnout? Am I misremembering?
You are not misremembering. They were only talking about turnout among the people that "count"!
Overall turnout didn't go up.
Basically left-leaning groups turned out more, and right-leaning groups stayed home.
Really just a positive development, from where I'm standing.
Ah, I get it - the raw number didn't go up, but the groups that traditionally don't vote - teh kids, teh blacks - came out strong.
Seems positive.
Pumping my fists for my Sistas that came out to vote. I knew it in my heart, but it's good to see stats to back it up.
TNC,
You wrote, "I doubt it will be the same in the next few presidential elections." I am not sure what you meant. That a percentage increase in voter turnout won't be similar in future elections, or that those who turned out for Obama won't in future elections in which he won't be the candidate, or something I am missing?
My guess is that this election represents a watershed moment in American national politics. The estimated 61.6% turnout of voting age population in 2008, was the highest since 1960 when it was 63.1%. I am hoping we'll see the future percentages that were common in the 1860-1900 period when the percentages were around 75% [prior to the passage of the 19th amendment]. From many points of view nothing should give us greater cause for optimism that the great American experiment will not stagnate and we will continue to expand freedom than an increase in voter turnout in an ever-increasing, diverse population.