Posted on January 16, 2013
The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics
The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics
African Americans voted at a higher rate in the 2012 elections than other minority groups and, in what would be a first, quite possibly at a higher rate than whites, a report from the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds. According to The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics (13 pages, PDF), African Americans in both 2008 and 2012 made up 12 percent of the eligible electorate but accounted for an estimated 13 percent of all votes cast, while Latinos and Asians — whose rising share of the vote has been driven primarily by population growth rather than increased participation — accounted for 11 percent and 4 percent of the electorate but cast only 10 percent and 3 percent of the votes, respectively. The report also notes that the turnout rate among African American voters in presidential elections has steadily increased since 2000, reaching 65.2 percent in 2008, compared with 66.1 percent for whites; and that the number of white voters as a percentage of the electorate has been shrinking for years and, according to exit polls, may have declined for the second presidential election in a row.
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