Letting the American Reality Sink In
Brian Dutt (OE), Viewpoints Editor
Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: News
But even beyond an impressive overall turnout, the youth voters flocked overwhelmingly to Barack Obama, who won amongst 18 to 29 voters 66-32 percent, according to CNN exit polls. This was the highest share of the youth vote obtained by any candidate since exit polls began reporting results by age in 1976. The sharp contrast between youth voters and voters over 65, which voted 53-45 percent in favor of John McCain may be further evidence that there are different driving forces at work between the generations.
Obama's support from minorities and women voters was also key to his victory on November 4th. African Americans composed 13 percent of the electorate in 2008, surpassing the previous record of 11 percent, and Obama managed to win a close to unanimous vote with African Americans (95 percent). Obama also won big with Latino voters (67-31 percent versus McCain), which undermined fears that competition between Blacks and Latinos would drive these voters towards McCain and his somewhat loose policies on immigration. Obama even won handily with Asian-Americans, by 62-31 percent. Obama also did very well with women (56-43 percent), particularly driven by his appeal to middle-class suburban voters. In fact, the only demographic where he didn't fare well as a whole was with white Americans, who voted 55-43 percent in favor of McCain, strongly driven by voters above 30 years of age.
I watched Barack's acceptance speech from inside Tommy Doyle's, holding two beers, and shouldered between several complete strangers and a cardboard cut-out of the President Elect. I had never seen "TD's" so crowded, or so introspective as he proclaimed "we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America." This promise to end partisan politics, echoing his famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, was something that I always wanted to believe was possible. As I watched political pundits play games with the electoral map for weeks on end, suggesting the Barack could win Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and even Arizona, I got even more anxious, but Liberals (myself included) refused to believe that anything was possible until election day.
Obama's support from minorities and women voters was also key to his victory on November 4th. African Americans composed 13 percent of the electorate in 2008, surpassing the previous record of 11 percent, and Obama managed to win a close to unanimous vote with African Americans (95 percent). Obama also won big with Latino voters (67-31 percent versus McCain), which undermined fears that competition between Blacks and Latinos would drive these voters towards McCain and his somewhat loose policies on immigration. Obama even won handily with Asian-Americans, by 62-31 percent. Obama also did very well with women (56-43 percent), particularly driven by his appeal to middle-class suburban voters. In fact, the only demographic where he didn't fare well as a whole was with white Americans, who voted 55-43 percent in favor of McCain, strongly driven by voters above 30 years of age.
I watched Barack's acceptance speech from inside Tommy Doyle's, holding two beers, and shouldered between several complete strangers and a cardboard cut-out of the President Elect. I had never seen "TD's" so crowded, or so introspective as he proclaimed "we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America." This promise to end partisan politics, echoing his famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, was something that I always wanted to believe was possible. As I watched political pundits play games with the electoral map for weeks on end, suggesting the Barack could win Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and even Arizona, I got even more anxious, but Liberals (myself included) refused to believe that anything was possible until election day.
Be the first to comment on this story