"Big Tent" Coalition Works For Obama

The two pictures above can give you a clue as to why President Obama and the Democrats had such a good election night. The top picture is from the Democratic National Convention, and the bottom picture is from the Republican National Convention. Notice any difference? Let me give you a clue. There's a whole lot of "white" in the bottom picture and not much else.

And that's what put President Obama over the top Tuesday night -- a coalition of voters made up of all races, ethnicities, colors, sexes, ages, and sexual preferences. That is the strength of the Democratic Party, and it came through in a big way for them in the 2012 election. Exit polling showed that about 89% of Romney voters were white while 56% of those voting for the president were white, but the president also received votes from many other demographic groups. Consider the following facts:

WHITES
Whites made up 72% of the electorate in this election. That's a percentage that has shrunk 2 or 3 points since the last election (and is expected to shrink another couple of points by 2016). The president received the votes of 39% of all white voters -- slightly less than the 43% he got in 2008, but enough to keep Romney from winning.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS
This group made up about 13% of all voters in 2012 (about the same percentage as in 2008), and the president got 93% of their votes.

HISPANICS
Latinos represented 10% of those voting in the election (up from about 9% in 2008). About 71% of them voted for President Obama. Only 27% voted for Romney -- less than the 31% voting for McCain and the 40% voting for Bush II. This is the fastest growing demographic in this country, and will make up an increasing percentage of the electorate in future elections.

ASIANS
They only made up 3% of voters, but they gave President Obama about 73% of their votes. Exit polling showed that the immigration issue was very important to them.

YOUTH (18 TO 29)
This group turned out big for Obama in 2008, comprising 18% of all voters. Republicans had expected voting to fall off in this group in 2012, but they were wrong. It actually increased to 19% of the electorate. And these young people gave the president 60% of their votes.

WOMEN
Republicans had claimed that Romney had closed the gender gap. It was just wishful thinking. About 55% of women voted for President Obama, and that figure climbed to 60% among unmarried women.

Depending just on whites to win a national election in the United States just won't work anymore. Republican Sen Lindsey Graham put it humorously, but truthfully, when he said there just aren't enough old, angry, white men. The nation is becoming more diverse with each passing election -- and if the Republican Party wants to remain relevant, they have some hard choices to make.