There are a couple of facts that I need to establish up front.
1)I don't hate anyone. I may intensely dislike or disagree with people's actions or words but I do not hate or dislike anyone based on their race, religion or sexual preference.
2)the statistics I am about to quote come from a spread sheet I have compiled since 2003 covering voting statistics in my home state. I have compared these statistics with those of other states and come to the conclusions below based on these statistics.
3)anyone interested in more information regarding these statistics may contact me through www.cyndc.com
The reason I am stating these things up front is because I realize that some of the thoughts I am about to express some people may not like at all. But when I read how candidates are fighting over certain voting groups, I just have speak out about why we are where we are politically speaking, with the thought that maybe we can act proactively to change things in 2008.
I read the other day how Obama and Hillary are fighting over the African American votes in 2008 and I just had to shake my head and chuckle to myself. What vote I mumbled to myself. In fact I wish their votes were worth fighting for. Then today the headline reads, "GOP may face payback from Hispanics." What a joke. But the joke may be on the Dems if they don't catch up with what the GOP already knows. Hispanics don't vote. In fact the only group that votes less than Hispanics are African American Men. This is the reason my state as well as many other states are red when in fact their population actually is blue.
In September 2003, I decided to do a statistical analysis of voting in my state. I wanted to understand how my state became a red state. It didn't use to be a red state. In fact most of my life, it's been a blue state. I figured a county by county analysis of voting records of every major election since 1992 would be a starting point. So I compiled a spreadsheet of voting data by county including breakdown of each county by race, age, population, etc. Basically I wanted included anything that would help present a clear picture of what was happening in each county across the state.
Now I know some people will say you can make statistics say whatever you want. So I will state here that I did this to learn. There was no predetermined hypothesis I was trying to prove either way. I just wanted to understand what was happening. Statistical facts don't generally lie. They don't generally favor either political persuasion. I realize they can be spun to spread disinformation which the Bushies are really good at. But that wasn't my goal.
I was surprised. I didn't believe the statistics would provide any clear data one way or the other. I figured that at best it would be enlightening, perhaps useful but still I assumed there would be more gray area, that it wouldn't be so black and white all across the board. No, I wasn't surprised. I was shocked to find otherwise.
You see the population of my state is not Republican even though the GOP holds the majority of seats both in our state and federal govts. No, the population breakdown clearly favors the Democratic base. It's not even close. And yet, when it comes to election time, it's totally opposite.
To be blunt, the reason my state has gone red is because the MAJORITY of people WHO ACTUALLY VOTE in my state are caucassians over the age of 30. And the majority of that group, vote Republican. Furthermore, the statistics show these voters clearly outnumber the Democractic base who by far don't seem to be able to get behind this idea of casting votes. Here how it breaks down:
They outvote African American Women, 2 to 1
They out vote people under the age of 30, 3 to 1
They out vote Hispanics, 4 to 1
They out vote African American Men, 5 to 1.
These statistics are the same as far down as the precinct level. It is not enough to register people to vote if you cannot get them to actually go out and vote. In counties that were primarily Hispanic, the percentages of registered voters were the lowest, some as low as 35%. Communities made up of primarily African Americans were equal to primarily Caucassian communities in percentages of registered voters. But when it came down to actual voting time, the percentage of registered voters who voted were significantly lower in the predominantly African American counties. And young people of all races showed a steady decrease in participation over the years.
The GOP in my state obviously gets it. They play to that percentage of the people who actually vote and they do it well. They can afford to take the positions they take because the majority of people that actually vote are supporting them. They understand that it's a waste of resources to campaign to people who won't vote and they are very good at getting their voters to the polls.
The Dems come into our state with their hands out to the fatcats but never stay long enough to talk to real people. They rarely if ever interact with those whose votes they so desparately need. They have no organization when it comes to getting out the votes they need to win. Many people in our state feel we have been written off by the Dems. So when candidates take the time to address the little guy in our state, they pack the house, anxious to hear thier ideas for our country.
These statistics paint a very clear picture about how the GOP manages to get its voters to the polls and the Dems don't. Comparatively speaking, this picture is the same state by state, county by county, precent by precent. I just don't understand how the Dems don't get it.
One thing is clear though. You can fight over racial voting blocs all you want. But I don't care how many say they support you, if people won't go out and vote then they are irrellevant. Perhaps this is why Bush has gotten away with so much. Perhaps this is why the Bushies have gotten away with stealing elections. Perhaps this is why the GOP has permeated its way across our country like a plague.
All I know is that if the Dems want to win in 2008, statistics say they need to find a way to get their base to get out and vote. Which means they need to spend more time in the Red States.