Estimate of White Audience at Republican Convention Off By a Whopping Six Percentage Points
In my post, “’Right’ Convention, Wrong Country?”, I commented on how the Republican attacks on Democrats—who make up about one-half of voting-age Americans—and their selected candidates, gave me the sensation that I was watching a political “revival” in some foreign country.
I also noted that,
My feelings that this convention was not being held in the U.S.A. were reinforced when the cameras scanned over a sea of faces supposed to represent the diversity, the kaleidoscope that is the United States of America, but, instead, was 99 percent white.
After reading a couple of articles, including one from the Dutch “De Telegraaf,” I have to admit that my impression that 99 percent of the Republican delegates were white, was somewhat overblown.
In “A White Convention,” in De Telegraaf, Jan-Kees Emmer writes (translation soon available on WatchingAmerica.com):
It had already attracted my attention in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, where Republicans convened. The audience was noticeably whiter than the one at the Democratic Convention last week in Denver. On my way to Wasilla, I came across the numbers in the New York Times. And they don’t lie. Not only was the Republican Convention indeed much whiter than that of Democrats, but also when compared against previous Republican gatherings, the attendees have become considerably “one-sided.”
Then Emmer sets me straight: “93 percent of the Republican delegation is white.”
A whopping six percentage points less than what I had estimated!
Perhaps what led me to settle on that percentage was that the cameras of the TV channel I was watching the final night of the Republican National Convention consistently, unfailingly, and repeatedly (are there any other synonyms?) kept scanning back to the same, nice-looking, somewhat senior, black man on the Convention floor.
Since we are talking about statistics and since I have mentioned the New York Times, it may be interesting to see what Patrick Healy has to say about this subject in that newspaper.
In his “Two Conventions With No Shortage of Contrasts,” he notes such “overwhelmingly white” attendance at the Republican Convention, and says “…the contrast in racial and ethnic demographics is perhaps most visible to viewers of the conventions, being held this year on consecutive weeks…” and provides the following statistics:
According to polls of delegates conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, 93 percent of the Republican delegates are white (compared with 85 percent in 2004 and 89 percent in 2000), while 5 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are black. The Democratic delegate pool in Denver, according to the survey, was 65 percent white, 23 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic, roughly the same as at other recent Democratic conventions.
Healy further comments:
Both the content of the messages and the color of the faces reflect a clear political reality. In 2000 and 2004, Mr. Bush and one of his top lieutenants, Ken Mehlman, worked explicitly to win more black and Hispanic votes. This year the Republicans are aggressively reaching out to the base of their party — white, male, conservative — while making a new appeal to women with the addition of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to the ticket.
It appears that at least on this one issue—appealing to the white, male, conservative base, and ignoring minorities—John McCain, is definitely distancing himself from Bush.
The question is, will this particular attempt at separating himself from Bush turn out to be a wise “degree of separation?”
Finally, back to the observer from afar, Dutch journalist Jan-Kees Emmer. Emmer is on his way to Wasilla. It will be interesting to see what an independent journalist will report from the Big City. Will keep you posted here, and in WatchingAmerica.com.
UPDATE: For the translated Dutch article, “A White Convention,” click here
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