At the Washington Post, John Cohen and Rosalind Helderman report:
The 2012 election is shaping up to be more polarized along racial lines than any presidential contest since 1988, with President Obama experiencing a steep drop
in support among white voters from four years ago.
They compare data from a recent poll with exit interviews from 2004 and 2008. The results show that, while Obama is overwhelmingly the favorite among non-whites, he trails him among whites by 23 percentage points.
Cohen and Helderman say that Obama has lost support among whites even just recently. Meanwhile, a whopping 91% of Romney supporters are believed to be white. We are, truly, a deeply divided nation.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 7
Gruntled — November 2, 2012
“The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham
(S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in
business for the long term.”
Said at the Republican convention.
Jolie — November 2, 2012
This looks very straightforward as it is, but I wonder how it would look like if you would control the income bracket (or possibly even better some more comprehensive measurements of wealth/class). There obviously is a divide per se, but I'm wondering how much of it is genuinely whites vs. non-whites and how much is the rich vs. poor divide combined with the fact that for structural and historical reasons whites tend to be more wealthy.
Guest — November 3, 2012
I wonder what percentage of blacks are voting for Obama? Is it a "whopping" percentage? And if it's a larger percentage than the percentage of whites voting for Romney, then why isn't this "whopping" percentage cited while the other one is?
What doesn't get said is often more interesting and revealing that what is.
James Jordan — August 11, 2023
I agree that the 2012 election is shaping up to be very polarized along racial lines, as the data from the Washington Post and other sources suggest.
Reliable Handyman in Stamford CT