Cross-posted at Pacific Standard.
In this 20-minute video, the Pew Research Center’s Paul Taylor discusses trends in the racial/ethnic breakdown of the U.S. population over the last century. Taylor discusses a number of related issues, including the income and wealth gap, perceptions about interracial relations, and the electoral implications of the demographic changes. For instance, while Ronald Reagan once said Hispanics are “Republicans who don’t know it yet,” there’s no evidence that they’re any closer to realizing it. As Hispanics and Asians make up an increasing proportion of the voting population, old electoral strategies based on winning most of the White vote are no longer sufficient to win a national election.
I’d skip the introductory remarks and start just after the 2-minute mark.
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.
Comments 17
Gilbert P — May 9, 2013
The argument that whites cannot decide an election was supported by: a) a misleading slide (not to scale) understating white electoral mass, and b) a non-sequitur about Bush's performance.
Larry Charles Wilson — May 10, 2013
No one knows for certain what will happen tomorrow much less 40 years from now.
Bekka Poo — May 15, 2013
"Hispanic" isn't a race.
Shreen — May 15, 2013
I would imagine that the multiracial percentage would increase quite a bit, as well. This group doesn't even get a color on the graph. :/
JVR — May 15, 2013
These statistics do not take into account the impact of legal and illegal migration (and the upcoming settlement of millions of undocumented workers). So I think the Hispanic/Black catagories are underestimated and the white catagory is overestimated -- there are millions of people in Latin American and Africa who will still migrate to the US in the next few decades. There will be less than 47% whites in the US in 2050, and that percentage will decline by about 5%-8% per decade from now on (the ratio is about 65% at this time).
PeterPettigrew — July 2, 2013
What about mixed black/whites, white/asians, white/latino, black/latino, black/asians, polynasians and all the different races that make up hispanics? Do they not count? I think first we would need a more accurate definition of various races before this can be considered some sort of scientifical or accurate research.
Phil Hartman — September 27, 2013
While Republicans might not think their policies are race-based, minorities can interpret their actions in no other logical way than a racially-fueled attack directly on them. As such, the Republican party is doomed in the long run in its current manifestation.