But news from the AP, via Talking Points Memo: for the first time, in the 2012 elections: back voter turnout was more than white voter turnout:
America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.
Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press.
This clearly has implications for both parties. To wit:
*Can the Democrats work to keep this kind of turnout in 2014 – and 2016?
*To try and break this pattern, will the GOP make a major effort to win over African-American voters?
*Will we now see even more voter suppression efforts in several states by GOP-controlled legislators and governors for voter suppression?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.