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MILESTONES

2012 Marked Record Year for Black Voting Rates

African-American voters turned out in historic numbers, says Pew

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: The Chronicle

In a milestone for the history of American voting trends, it appears blacks may have outpaced whites in their turnout rate for the first time ever.

Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall reports on polling data from the Pew Research Center revealing black voters to have had a higher participation rate in the 2012 election year than than any other minority, and possibly even the majority. It's a phenomenon that shows the increasing importance of voting for the black community. As Marshall notes, unlike Asian-Americans and Hispanics, black voters can't rely on a fast-growing population for national political clout.

From Pew: "According to census data and the election day exit polls, blacks made up 12 percent of the eligible electorate this year but accounted for an estimated 13 percent of all votes cast."

Marshall believes a kind of GOP vote-squashing blowback was in effect in 2012, which may have rallied the black voter base in ways that led to the record turnout.

"I continue to think - and I'm not alone in this - that Republicans sowed the wind with voter suppression tactics and reaped the whirlwind," writes Marshall. "Far from taking the edge off African-American turnout, which was the intent, it mobilized these voters to historic levels."

Via Talking Points Memo.
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Did Republicans "reap a whirlwind" this year in the form of motivated black voters?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • View all 19 replies >

  • PNWest
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    The GOP decided long ago to engage in the southern strategy of appealing to southern whites with thinly veiled racism. 50 years ago the GOP could point to northern moderate party members at the forefront of the civil rights movement. Not any more. Now they are reaping what they sowed.
  • Ashstop
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    I know it took more than the black vote to win the election but if it was reversed and 98% of the white vote voted for the white guy it would be headline news around the world,
  • o
    Sonny
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    A question for you.....If 98% of the African-American vote that went to Obama somehow means that they are all "racist"...Then...if YOU did not vote for Obama---does that also mean that YOU are racist for NOT voting for him?---Or...did you simply vote for the candidate of YOUR choice...And if so...then why can't African-Americans vote for the candidate of their choice -----Just as YOU did!?!?-----Please explain.
  • Vance1
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    @Sonny

    because 98% of white people didnt vote for the white guy did they?
    whites didnt just vote on color of skin, But blacks did, didnt they!!!
    So it means that Blacks are truly very racist people!!

  • View all 46 replies >

  • RoyFloyd
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    @whataGOVwehave No, the U.S. Constitution isn't under a rock. Only U.S. citizens may vote, even ones that are black and/or female. No Mexicans or Canadians are allowed to vote.
  • hwyangel
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    @RoyFloyd

    I believe he was referring to 80% of our population growth being from immigration. And with Obama promising a lot of propositions on education and paving the way for citizenship, conveniently before the election.

  • View all 9 replies >

  • u
    ctc
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    So I guess you're say'n those rich folks with all their tax breaks and loopholes are just too plain lazy to vote??
  • o
    Sonny
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    @Polusalo I don't know where they get this stuff from, Polusalo...But the most disturbing thing for me---is the fact that they all seem to just keep repeating these bizarre notions, and not many of them actually make any effort to look into these statements to see if they have any truth or merit in them---They just keep perpetuating the myths and stereotypes and have absolutely NO interest in finding out if any of it is true or not...It is very strange to say the least....
  • PNWest
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    @Polusalo I'm white too and I voted for Obama. No give-a-ways for me either unless you count the money our investments made when the stock market nearly doubled since Obama got elected. Dontcha just love how capitalism with democratic presidents?

  • View all 6 replies >

  • PoliticalSpice
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    Absolutelly, black voters do not typically turn out in large numbers. No question, not wanting to see the first black president deemed a failure for not winning a second term played a role, but the biggest motivator from everything I can piece together was anger over attempts to curtail their right to vote...
  • Rocker
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    Historic high in black vote. I thought it was a good thing to be engaged in one of the benefits of citizenship, myself.
  • jessejaymes
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    Lost in the Hoopla (Jefferson Starship reference) is that half or less is all that votes for President. HALF of those eligible to vote. Everyone keeps breaking it down. Black did this, whites did this, Latinos did this. Gays did this, women did this, old white guys did this. What HALF did was stay home and not vote. You want to win elections? Do something for the working class that is actually FOR THE WORKING CLASS you D.C. jackasses and you might actually get all you need out of that class that simply does not give a damn enough about your lies to even respond at the poll.
  • PNWest
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    Maybe the half that stayed home were actually the 47% of Americans that Mitt Romney was talking about. He might have been right after all.
  • mimi57
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    How sad that many blacks voted for the color of his skin and not his credentials , character or policies...to vote
    for anyone because of skin color is just wrong! No matter how you look at it, conservatives are accused of racism
    constantly, but this is nothing but reverse racism. I get the fact that blacks were excited to have a black president,
    I will never 'get' that anyone wanted it bad enough to destroy the country. How sad!
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @jessejaymes - Can you prove your claim? Do you have a link to back it up? Even if you do, that is a small percentage of white voters. According to the data presented, 95% of black voters voted for obama. Can you say 95% of white voters voted for Romney? Since the left leaning members on this board always claim to be so much smarter and fact based then us dumb conservatives, it should be no problem for you to back up your claims.
  • mimi57
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    @jessejaymes Prove to me where what you said is true... The Topic verified the truth of the high number of
    voters who were black and voted for Obama, I knew it , as I've seen some of the stats and many didn't add up.
    In certain areas of Cleveland , Pittsburgh and Florida there was a 140% voter turn out. Really?!! All voted for Obama...how is that?
  • Dan_Tien
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    "How sad that many blacks voted for the color of his skin and not his credentials , character or policies..., conservatives are accused of racism constantly..."

    As Neo said "Can you prove your claims?" You, and others, make the assumption that blacks voted for Obama solely because of the color of his skin, despite the fact that it was a secret ballot and you have no first hand knowledge to support your conclusion. Even if you were correct in your assumption in some cases, it would not be based on empirical data, but only on a preconception based on race. That IS racism.

    Reversing your statement to say that whites voted AGAINST Obama because of "the color of his skin and not his credentials , character or policies" creates the accusation of white racism that you say is unfair, even though it also is true in some cases. Maybe you can see why conservatives are often accused of racism - because they ARE racist, and can't see it.

  • View all 27 replies >

  • Starsplash
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    @ConserveUSA Ya... because I live in a 5 million dollar mansion which I dont.

    Keep being stupid. Your stupidity is our gain when the democrats win again.
  • o
    Sonny
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    Its simple, Mimi...The president can not "make some employer hire any one person over any other person". He is ONLY the president. There are a lot of social-economic reasons for the disparity in the unemployment numbers in the black communities. For starters, many major urban areas are now merely "shells of what they used to be". You take Baltimore, Maryland, for example: There used to be such booming industries as steel, automobile manufacturing, Proctor & Gamble, major breweries -- etc, etc, etc.....Now---all of that is gone! And there have been no other key industries to take its place. When those (and many other) industries went out of business----hundreds of thousands of people were out of a job, including tens of thousands of blacks and minorities....They went out of business well before Pres. Obama was even in the Illinois Legislature---So clearly he had nothing to do with their demise.

    And to this day...that city and metropolitan area is still lacking for adequate industry and jobs.....Has nothing to do with Obama----The "short of it is this"...That very large portions of the black population happen to live in cites and urban areas...When those cities lost industries (starting approx. 30 years ago) to outsourcing and down-sizing---all of those people (including whites, latinos, etc.) simply lost their jobs...And none of those companies or industries have ever returned, and not much has come in to Baltimore to take their place...That's how that's workin? Not very well, I'm afraid.
  • texas_cutie75
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    Maybe I didn't fully understand the article, and granted math was never my strong suit but did y'all catch the "blacks made up 12% of the eligible electorate this year but accounted for an estimated 13% of all votes cast"? I may need that translated!

  • View all 47 replies >

  • kathyparsell
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    Good for them. All Americans should vote, what ever the reason. I feel that whether the candidates I vote for or not, by voting I own the right to clap or complain.
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
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    Very few...and it was the GOP's vote to lose but the Democrats did little to help either. While the GOP was racist against blacks, the Democrats re-enforced it by painting white people as the enemy. Remember when Bill Clinton hailed a great day in 2040 when whites will be a minority and the whole room clapped? Yeah...that's what we're all up against.
  • o
    WattheTyler
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    And here comes the white racist Republicans dropping their vile racist comments.

    89% of white Mississippians voted for Mitt Romney. White West Virginia voted for Democrats in the house and senate but voted against Obama. That's real racism. Not this "reverse" racism crap you KKK supporters are spewing.
  • o
    Antiecm
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    Whirlwind huh??? More black voters than white huh?? When the blacks only hold like 9.4 percent of the population. That tells me ACORN was successful again. And there has been no questioning why many of the cities in Ohio had more black voters than lived in the city. Yep, ACORN did its thing, and We the People got a ding a ling. And when that ding a ling drives the country of the cliff and into the ground. Remember we will be laughing at you.
  • u
    mtkopf
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    Why don't you go to quickfacts.census.gov
    The country is actually 13.1% black according to the census, unless ACORN managed to infiltrate and skew those numbers also.
    Why is it so difficult to believe that blacks actually were motivated to vote bc repubs were trying to take away their legal right to vote? Why is it so hard for repubs to believe that maybe black ppl, like the majority of Americans didn't buy into the bullspit that Romney and the rest of the right wing were trying to sell them?
  • u
    KyleMFb
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    I would think that's pretty apparent isn't it? Or is that just me those stupid republicans fought Obama every step of the way preventing a strong recovery they tried to implement racist laws to surpress the black vote and student and elderly vote that clearly back fired on them those punks now want to change the electrol college now their going to make us go over the cliff just to get back at Obama and democrats republicans are going to let all the jobs that Obama has created despite their obstruction go down the drain just to get back at him and make Him start back all over I'm sick and tired of it every single republican needs their communist asses lynched on the capital steps TODAY!!!! And Fox News needs to broad cast it to every country that hasn't banned them yet
  • DARSB
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    Doesn't really matter who actually said what. Fact is, the GOP was given bad data it was happy to believe. The bloodletting isn't quite done, I imagine, but Dick Morris fans should prepare to sit Shiva.
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