Image Courtesy of the NY Times
There have been a flurry of analyses in recent days about the surprising level of support Obama garnered from various groups in the population. If we were to read the commentary, at least four different subgroups of the population were critical to the Obama victory.
- Over at Latino Decisions, Vicky DeFrancesco describes the “record support” for Obama among Latino voters. Obama reached a high point not seen since Clinton’s reelection. Vicky doesn’t say that Latinos deserve credit for the win, but Gary Segura, another principal at Latino Decisions, is not so shy.
- Counter Peter Levine, director of the well-respected CIRCLE program that studies youth civic engagement, who says that “without the youth vote, Obama would not have won the election.“
- But what about women? Exit polls indicate that the “gender gap in 2012 aided (the) Obama win.” Romney’s loss in large part to GOP positions on reproductive rights and statements by candidates about rape.
- Poppycock! Gary Gates of the UCLA school of law, quoted by Micah Cohen at Five ThirtyEight, tells us that the Obama’s three to one advantage among gay voters was “more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage.”
- Karthick Ramakrishnan and Taeku Lee, two well-known scholars of Asian Americna politics, tell us “not to be surprised” at the high level of support for Obama among Asian-Americans. (To their credit, they don’t attribute the win to Asian Americans.)
- Fox News gets in on the act. Their summary of the election? “Obama’s key groups made the difference.“
- And then there is Mitt Romney’s unfortunate post-election comment about “gifts” to Latinos, Hispanics, and women. Hey, what about gay Asian Americans?
There certainly is a pattern to the 2012 results, and the pattern is this: Obama won nearly every group not defined as “older, white, male.”
The question, then, is whether it really helps us to even talk about these groups individually. Obama’s support coalition was broad and deep. It encompassed almost every segment of the the population. I’m less certain that this is a story about Blacks, or Latinos, or Asian Americans, or Gays, or Women then it is a story about a Republican Party appealing to an increasingly small segment of the voting population.
And while I’m not surprised to see advocates claim victory–and expect rewards–for their group (and these are not claims made by my colleagues above), I would not be surprised if these groups are ultimately disappointed, since just about everyone can claim credit for his win.
Why focus on the groups who voted for Obama? Why not on the groups that didn’t?
Image Courtesy of the NY Times
There have been a flurry of analyses in recent days about the surprising level of support Obama garnered from various groups in the population. If we were to read the commentary, at least four different subgroups of the population were critical to the Obama victory.
There certainly is a pattern to the 2012 results, and the pattern is this: Obama won nearly every group not defined as “older, white, male.”
The question, then, is whether it really helps us to even talk about these groups individually. Obama’s support coalition was broad and deep. It encompassed almost every segment of the the population. I’m less certain that this is a story about Blacks, or Latinos, or Asian Americans, or Gays, or Women then it is a story about a Republican Party appealing to an increasingly small segment of the voting population.
And while I’m not surprised to see advocates claim victory–and expect rewards–for their group (and these are not claims made by my colleagues above), I would not be surprised if these groups are ultimately disappointed, since just about everyone can claim credit for his win.