# Any demographic support one party as overwhelmingly as African-Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 17, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849 "2016-10-17T16:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/1 "2016-10-17T16:43:48Z")
In the 2000 election, IIRC, Gore won 90 percent of the black vote, and when Obama first ran for president in 2008, he garnered 97 percent of the black vote, IIRC. Is there any other demographic group in the world - race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, income, etc. - that votes so overwhelmingly for one particular political party as African-American voters for the Democratic Party candidate in presidental elections? (Assuming free elections - some “elections” in some countries, of course, are coerced; otherwise Saddam technically got 100 percent of the Iraqi Arab vote.) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/2 "2016-10-17T17:01:59Z")
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I do know that if the Republicans could even break the 15% mark with the black vote, a lot of states that are now solidly blue would come into “play”. The fact that they have not done so says more about them than it does about the African-American community. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/3 "2016-10-17T17:15:55Z")
Obama got [85.7% of the Muslim vote](https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/11664-poll-85-percent-of-muslim-voters-picked-president-obama.html) in 2012, which is in the same ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/4 "2016-10-17T17:17:03Z")
Few world democracies have a two-party system like we do, so you’re unlikely to see these kinds of huge support. But if you modify the question to ask about demographic lack of support (i.e., the 10% support of the GOP by African-Americans) then I suspect there are lots of analogues. What percentage of Arab Israelis vote Likud? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/5 "2016-10-17T17:20:53Z")
I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that there were similar breakdowns for various parties during and after apartheid in South Africa. Jews have likely opposed anti-semitic parties at that high of a percentage in various European countries. Though these examples might be watered down since the countries involved have more viable parties than just 2. I’m not sure if there are any countries with a 2-party hold over national politics to the degree that the US does, so there may not be exactly similar demographic splits. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/6 "2016-10-17T17:45:15Z")
When Republican leaders actively attack minorities and then you add in this year’s Trump comments, the better question is how any self-respecting minority _could_ vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/7 "2016-10-17T17:49:36Z")
The mormon vote is ~70% Republican. That’s pretty high, although obviously not as high as the black vote for Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/8 "2016-10-17T17:57:44Z")
Romney got [89% of the white vote](http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/06/23/how_will_poll_watchers_in_mississippi_spot_the_black_democrats_voting_in.html) in Mississippi, and [84% of the white vote](http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/11/19/obama-southern-white-vote/1714291/) in Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/9 "2016-10-17T18:09:25Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > When Republican leaders actively attack minorities and then you add in this year’s Trump comments, the better question is how any self-respecting minority _could_ vote Republican. I am not asking \*why \*African-Americans vote Democratic; that’s a different topic. I’m just asking if there is any other demographic group in the USA (or any other country) that votes for one political party so overwhelmingly. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/10 "2016-10-17T18:10:43Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Romney got [89% of the white vote](http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/06/23/how_will_poll_watchers_in_mississippi_spot_the_black_democrats_voting_in.html) in Mississippi, and [84% of the white vote](http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/11/19/obama-southern-white-vote/1714291/) in Alabama. Thanks, but those were very red states to begin with; I was asking more along the lines of overall national vote; i.e., Obama’s 97% vote from the black voting base reflected the entire country’s black vote as a whole; sorry for not making that clearer. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/11 "2016-10-17T18:13:18Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Few world democracies have a two-party system like we do, so you’re unlikely to see these kinds of huge support. But if you modify the question to ask about demographic lack of support (i.e., the 10% support of the GOP by African-Americans) then I suspect there are lots of analogues. What percentage of Arab Israelis vote Likud? I understand what you are getting at but this is more statistically problematic; I think it is more telling to see who votes for rather than who votes against. Otherwise, by this logic, 93% of American voters “don’t support” the Libertarian Party - or 99% of Americans “don’t support” Evan McMullin. Not a perfect analogy to Arab Israelis vs. Likud but the best I can manage. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/12 "2016-10-17T18:18:15Z")
The Jewish vote is nearly as solidly Democratic as the black vote. [From 1992 to 2008, a minimum of 76% of Jews voted for the Democratic candidate](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html). And Obama actually took 89% of the total nonwhite vote in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/13 "2016-10-17T18:26:22Z")
For this thread, let’s set the cutoff at around 92% or 95% or higher. 89% is in the same ballpark, but 70-79% is not. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/14 "2016-10-17T18:30:26Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I understand what you are getting at but this is more statistically problematic; I think it is more telling to see who votes for rather than who votes against. Otherwise, by this logic, 93% of American voters “don’t support” the Libertarian Party - or 99% of Americans “don’t support” Evan McMullin. Not a perfect analogy to Arab Israelis vs. Likud but the best I can manage. I agree that it’s not a perfect analogy. The problem is that the different democratic systems also aren’t perfectly analogous, especially with respect to the number of viable parties, so you’re unlikely to find similar examples in other countries because the systems are different. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/15 "2016-10-17T18:34:31Z")
Gay vote in the USA? ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/16 "2016-10-17T18:35:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Thanks, but those were very red states to begin with; I was asking more along the lines of overall national vote; i.e., Obama’s 97% vote from the black voting base reflected the entire country’s black vote as a whole; sorry for not making that clearer. Isn’t “Deep South” a demographic category, though? Thus, “Deep Southern whites” would be too, no? Moving on: [96% of Bangladeshi-Americans, 91% of Pakistani-Americans, and 84% of Indian-Americans voted for Obama in 2012.](http://aaldef.org/press-releases/press-release/new-findings-asian-american-vote-in-2012-varied-widely-by-ethnic-group-and-geographic-location.html) ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/17 "2016-10-17T18:37:36Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Gay vote in the USA? Obama got [76% of the gay vote in 2012.](http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/gay-vote-seen-as-crucial-in-obamas-victory/) Clinton was polling [72% as of late September.](http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/09/sky-not-falling-20-percent-lgbtq-voters-support-trump/) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/18 "2016-10-17T18:44:10Z")
[Slate magazine had an article](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/trump_and_the_gop_are_alienating_latinos_the_way_they_once_alienated_black.html) about how Latinos are fleeing the Republican party. Support is down to about 15%, which isn’t in the same ballpark as the AA vote, but which should be a disturbing trend for the GOP. I suspect that if Trump chases minorities away from the GOP, they won’t come back for a generation. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/19 "2016-10-17T18:44:11Z")
The most pro-Obama county in the US in the 2012 election was Shannon in South Dakota, home of the Pine Ridge Reservation. It’s 94% Native (0.08% African American) and went 93% for Obama. [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-23/guess-which-u-dot-s-dot-county-most-loves-obama](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-23/guess-which-u-dot-s-dot-county-most-loves-obama) OK that’s cherry picking wrt to the whole Census category ‘Native American [and Pacific Islander]’. But those categories can themselves be questioned as artificial amalgamations. By the same token a political activist who is Native, Asian, Hispanic etc is naturally more inclined to reach out based on affinity to a larger group. It doesn’t mean those groups are actually as meaningful as ‘Black non-Hispanic’. And actually if the black vote % for Democrats were to gradually fall, it wouldn’t necessarily because the GOP/Dems were perceived to serve a single set of black agenda items better/worse relatively than is perceived now. It could be from the greater % of people of self identified African descent who are immigrants and/or have a non-black parent, and thus the political interests of blacks might become a bit less focused, as they now are between say Lakota people on reservations in SD and more assimilated and racially mixed self identified Natives in say OK (a lot more of whom are Republicans). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849/20 "2016-10-17T20:00:11Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > [Slate magazine had an article](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/trump_and_the_gop_are_alienating_latinos_the_way_they_once_alienated_black.html) about how Latinos are fleeing the Republican party. Support is down to about 15%, which isn’t in the same ballpark as the AA vote, but which should be a disturbing trend for the GOP. I suspect that if Trump chases minorities away from the GOP, they won’t come back for a generation. The Latino vote is generally 60-70% democratic, Bush got up to the mid 40s. Trump is in the teens.but generally they go democratic 2-1. Other than blacks, muslims supported Bush about 75% in 2000, in 2004 he got 1%. Muslims have been very pro Democrats since 9/11 at about 90%, but who knows if that is a reliable bias, since they supported Bush so much before the war on terror. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-demographic-support-one-party-as-overwhelmingly-as-african-americans/768849.md?page=2)