Gallup has released some fascinating numbers that reveal the extent of the racial party polarization produced by President Obama. The preference of non-whites — defined in this survey as “blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and all other races combined” — for Democrats peaked in 2008 but quickly returned to what it had been for the past three administrations.
Whites, however, changed. There were as likely to be Democrat as Republican in 2008, but now they have shifted to a 9.5 point preference for Republicans (compared to non-whites’ 45 point preference for Democrats). In its commentary Gallup rebuts the predictable liberal explanation of Republicans opposing Obama because of his race by pointing out that the shift does
not appear to be an immediate reaction to his becoming president. Whites became slightly more Republican during 2009, the first year of Obama’s presidency. However, the biggest movement came during the next year, when Obama signed the healthcare overhaul into law but saw his approval rating sink and his party lose its large majority in the House in that year’s midterm elections. Further, whites were about as likely to favor the Republican Party at points during George W. Bush’s presidency as they are now.
Of course some liberals, believing as they do that Republicans are stupid knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, may suspect that Republicans didn’t actually realize Obama was black until Obamacare was passed.
Perhaps the most interesting number here is that non-whites have moved away from the Democrats more than have whites. As mentioned, in 2008 whites were as likely to be Democrat as Republican; now they favor Republicans by 9.5 points. Non-whites favored Democrats by 58 points in 2008 but now do so by only 45 points, a 13 point drop.
Perhaps Bill Clinton’s assignment in 2016 will be to persuade blacks that Hillary, too, is black.
This polarization seems like a predictable consequence of having parties that vocally promote race-based policies. The Democratic party’s promotion of policies that benefit non-whites, at the expense of whites, will probably make some whites question those policies and the party that promotes them.
1.Hyphenated campaign promises. Woo Hoo!
2.”Unexpected” complications. “My dog ate it!”
3.Pendulum swing.
Return to Noah Webster’s dictionary “usage”.