# The rise of white people... as a demographic **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 12, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708 "2016-03-12T02:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/41 "2016-03-13T06:51:41Z")
I agree with that. Obviously, the upper class whites don’t feel oppressed, But lower class whites are feeling like they are in the same boat as everyone else. They aren’t feeling very privileged these days. Quite the opposite. Upper class whites feel guilty about their privilege, yet poor whites get to be the ones to pay the bulk of the price. IT’s not upper class white kids that get bumped from colleges or promotions. There’s still a glass ceiling at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/42 "2016-03-13T16:15:30Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > But that applies to all demographics. They all have variances within, plus everyone is a multitude of demographics. I was just pointing out that white voters as a group, defined as they are now, will be more and more into bloc voting than they are now. Minorities tend to vote in blocs, and as whites become less of a majority, we’ll see more bloc voting behavior. We are already seeing it with the white working class. The statement that all whites will someday begin to think like conservatives is hate speech. I just ate and I feel queasy just reading the words. Fortunately, objective reality intervenes. Younger white votes are predominantly liberal or progressive in attitude. The gap in voting patterns tends to run about 30 points Democratic. All indications are that the preference for Democratic candidates is actually increasing. It’s true that other demographics are often lumped broadly and falsely together. No sophisticated analyses do this, but the tendency works in broad voting terms because those demographics do skew in similar ways. Even women, hardly monolithic, skew heavily Democratic, especially in presidential elections. Which means that if you can say anything about whites in the future, it’s that a group that skews 30 points Democratic will be termed a monolithically liberal voting block as they become a minority in total numbers. Hoist by your own petard. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/43 "2016-03-13T18:32:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The statement that all whites will someday begin to think like conservatives is hate speech. I just ate and I feel queasy just reading the words. > > Fortunately, objective reality intervenes. Younger white votes are predominantly liberal or progressive in attitude. …until they grow up and realize that someone has to pay for All The Free Stuff. When I lived in upstate NY (and a liberal), I was puzzled that $1000 of my annual real estate tax bill was mandated by the County to fund the State’s Medicare. Why are only homeowners on the hook for this? If NY can get away with it, how long before your State does it, and it creeps up to $1200, $1500, $1800… And not just for Medicare??? There will come a point where you are more concerned with having saved enough for retirement. Will you be comfortable with paying $12,000+++/year plus deductibles for health care so that those who don’t give a damn about their future get it for free? And you know damn well that fighting AGW is going to double your utility costs, despite claims that it theoretically doesn’t have to. Follow the money, if you really want to see the future… ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/44 "2016-03-13T19:05:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There is no future in which “white people” will be a single demographic in America. Just to remind everyone of my position on this: > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Whites are going to be another minority. I don’t know that the language is going to change such that the word “white”, specifically, is going to be thrown around in the way black and Mexican are today. The Trump Coalition demographic is distinct from other white people, for one thing. But I think a change like that is coming to the language of the public discourse, hence the thread title The Rise of White People… as a Demographic. I’m saying white people, taken as a whole, will become another minority. I’m not so sure people are going to casually lump them all together as “white people”, for the kinds of reasons brought up in this thread. I do think there is a change of consciousness going on though, and I see the language changing in some way that I can’t predict. America is growing, possibly going through a transformational stage. Like the 60s? I don’t know. But I think things that have been swept under the rug for a long time are being dragged out into the light. There is more going on than just damage to the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/45 "2016-03-14T02:54:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The statement that all whites will someday begin to think like conservatives is hate speech. I just ate and I feel queasy just reading the words. They will not think as conservatives, anymore than blacks will think as liberals. African-American attachment to the Democratic Party has little to do with ideology, and the same goes for the white working class’ attachment to the GOP. As for young voters, actually 18-29 white voters went for Romney by 7 points: > **[Presidential Race - 2012 Election Center - Elections & Politics from CNN.com](https://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president/)** > > Latest on the 2012 National Elections from the CNN.com Politics team. Headlines and video, candidates' positions on the issues, fundraising totals, States to Watch news and analysis, and a unique side-by-side visual comparison of the Republican and... ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/46 "2016-03-14T04:20:06Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > …until they grow up and realize that someone has to pay for All The Free Stuff. Conservatives certainly never grow up and realize that; they think that Medicare and Military and Police work just fine in an environment of constant tax cuts and constant hand-wringing about the deficit. Quite where they think their Socialist Security is coming from is beyond me. They know they’re entitled to it, though. They paid taxes back in the Sixties. It’s theirs. They won’t give it up, but by no means will they pay for it now. That and their Medicare. And their VA benefits. And their police, to keep their neighborhoods… eh… _gentrified_. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/47 "2016-03-14T07:09:14Z")
_Meet the Press_ today shed some very interesting light on this: > [@](#): > > It’s Meet the Press Data Download time. Five states are going to be voting on Tuesday: Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri. But it you don’t need polls to look at Trump’s chances in a state. Right now, just look at how he’s already performed. So we looked at the 15 states Donald Trump has already won to see what we’ve found. > > And guess what? Two things have jumped out at us. Number one, Trump has been running in states where the unemployment rate is above the national average of five percent. And two, he’s winning in states where the African American population is above eight percent. Now to be sure, this doesn’t apply to every state Trump has won. > > However, he is nine for nine in states where both of those factors are in place. So, what does that tell us about where Trump might win in the future? Of the 24 remaining contests on the GOP side, four have unemployment above five percent and black population above eight percent. And guess what? Three of those four states are voting on Tuesday: Illinois, North Carolina, and Florida. > > And guess what? Polls are showing that he is ahead in all of those three states. There is after fourth, Connecticut, also fits this. They don’t vote until April 26th. So what does this all mean? People vote for many different reasons. But what Trump has tapped into, this issue of race and economic struggle, they’re closely tied and he’s taking advantage of it. > > African American population is an indicator, not because Trump is winning the minority vote, but because he’s winning among white voters who live in communities with large minority populations. Call it the [Bernie Goetz](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/bernie-goetz-shoots-would-be-muggers-train-1984-article-1.2145601) vote. > [@DSeid](#): > > I’ll take the opposite bet. If the GOP nominee is either Trump or Cruz the total share of White vote will be flat or decreased compared to 2012. It will become more bifurcated however with a bigger GOP share of the non-college educated White demographic and a smaller GOP share of the college educated and above group. I agree with you, for \*this \*election. But… > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The statement that all whites will someday begin to think like conservatives is hate speech. I just ate and I feel queasy just reading the words. > > Fortunately, objective reality intervenes. Younger white votes are predominantly liberal or progressive in attitude. The gap in voting patterns tends to run about 30 points Democratic. All indications are that the preference for Democratic candidates is actually increasing. > > It’s true that other demographics are often lumped broadly and falsely together. No sophisticated analyses do this, but the tendency works in broad voting terms because those demographics do skew in similar ways. Even women, hardly monolithic, skew heavily Democratic, especially in presidential elections. > > Which means that if you can say anything about whites in the future, it’s that a group that skews 30 points Democratic will be termed a monolithically liberal voting block as they become a minority in total numbers. > > Hoist by your own petard. Until quite recently, less than a week ago, I would have totally cosigned this. I bought the book\* The Emerging Democratic Majority\* when it came out in hardback over a decade ago and immediately read it cover to cover. But I pride myself on being willing to reconsider my beliefs when I get new information. And [this article](https://sojo.net/articles/era-white-anxiety-just-beginning#sthash.1cKcIvzX.dpuf), about some new social science research, gave me pause. It’s not just the data but a gut sense that this makes sense, that whites could circle the wagons as they feel their power and influence waning: > [@](#): > > Her findings, with Northwestern colleague Maureen A. Craig: Unaffiliated white Americans, including those with progressive, moderate, and conservative leanings, express more racial bias when confronted with news of a majority-minority future — and, in a further study, demonstrate a tendency to shift right on race-related policies. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/48 "2016-03-14T16:43:29Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They will not think as conservatives, anymore than blacks will think as liberals. African-American attachment to the Democratic Party has little to do with ideology, and the same goes for the white working class’ attachment to the GOP. > > As for young voters, actually 18-29 white voters went for Romney by 7 points: > > [Presidential Race - 2012 Election Center - Elections & Politics from CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president/) Not on that page, they didn’t. Try this one from Pew. [Young Voters Supported Obama Less, But May Have Mattered More | Pew Research Center](http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/26/young-voters-supported-obama-less-but-may-have-mattered-more/) Yes, Obama lost young white voters from 2008 to 2012. But he lost voters from every single demographic classification except black women 18-29. (98-1 for Obama!) That can be interpreted in many ways. You could argue that it fortells a condensing of young white voters into anti-liberal, anti-minority positions. I could argue that the across-the-board nature of the change was a natural disillusionment against an incumbent, and that the overall liberalism of young voters (evidenced elsewhere in the articles) limits the total amount of swing even among whites. I don’t feel this is enough data to make any sweeping statements. I will say you are wrong on ideology. The Democrats’ ideology is of tolerance. The Republicans’ ideology is of hatred. People are completely committed to voting their ideologies. SlackerInc: I’ll have to read Craig’s papers when I get a chance. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/49 "2016-03-14T17:57:38Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > One thing I think it means is this: going forward, “white people” are going to become more accepted as a demographic group in the national discourse going forward, like Latinos, or black people, or Muslims. Well, of course it will. If the country becomes a minority-majority country like every demographic projection says it will, then white people will simply be one more non-majority group, and will want and need the same representation and consideration that other ethnic groups get. White people would just be the largest group at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/50 "2016-03-14T18:19:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But he lost voters from every single demographic classification except black women 18-29. (98-1 for Obama!) Asians. Asian support for Obama increased from 2008 to 2012. Higher percentage of Asians for Obama than Hispanics or women or young people. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/51 "2016-03-14T18:22:20Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > OTOH, white people do have some genuine grievances. Yes, they do – but they do not have genuine grievances **as** white people the way blacks have genuine grievances as black people. After all, offshoring affects everybody regardless of color, while police brutality does not. **As** white people, they have only the grievance of losing caste and frustrated white privilege, which is genuine, but not legitimate, not a grievance worthy of anyone’s time. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/52 "2016-03-14T20:29:24Z")
Good and important distinction, between genuine and legitimate. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/53 "2016-03-14T20:33:17Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yes, they do – but they do not have genuine grievances **as** white people the way blacks have genuine grievances as black people. After all, offshoring affects everybody regardless of color, while police brutality does not. **As** white people, they have only the grievance of losing caste and frustrated white privilege, which is genuine, but not legitimate, not a grievance worthy of anyone’s time. You obviously don’t understand white people. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/54 "2016-03-14T21:05:19Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > No: white people are not allowed to complain about anything _as white people_. What we suffer by virtue of being white is so insignificant in comparison with what we do to non-whites, even in 2016, that any complaints are unseemly. Guilt is unnecessary and beside the point. > > As members of other groups, we can complain all we like. Being white doesn’t prevent you from suffering injustice. F’r instance, my generation was screwed by the Boomers: nothing to do with whiteness. How do you know what all white people go through? You don’t think we face racism from blacks? You really think I can go through a black neighborhood and not experience racism? You’re an idiot if you really believe that because as a utility worker often working in such neighborhoods, I experience it quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/55 "2016-03-14T21:44:16Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > You obviously don’t understand white people. I’m so white I glow in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/56 "2016-03-14T23:47:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I’m so white I glow in the dark. I obviously don’t understand white people outside of my own generation, but I disagree that “losing caste and frustrated white privilege” is the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/57 "2016-03-14T23:47:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yes, they do – but they do not have genuine grievances **as** white people the way blacks have genuine grievances as black people. After all, offshoring affects everybody regardless of color, while police brutality does not. **As** white people, they have only the grievance of losing caste and frustrated white privilege, which is genuine, but not legitimate, not a grievance worthy of anyone’s time. I agree with that. The kinds of “genuine” grievances I have in mind are the Appalachian coal miners who are losing jobs faster than they can be replaced. Same story in the Rust Belt where jobs have been outsourced faster than they are replaced, or in the Midwest where meat packing plants (are at least believed to) hire undocumented workers for cheaper than the locals are willing to work for, squeezing them out of jobs. It is hard times for some parts of the white population, independent of whether or not they are racists, or Republicans, or religious, or you name it. These problems aren’t “as white people”, except maybe that some places have segregated themselves as mostly white ares (or tried to), such that when things go south there, there is nobody but white people to take the hit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/58 "2016-03-14T23:52:21Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > How do you know what all white people go through? You don’t think we face racism from blacks? You really think I can go through a black neighborhood and not experience racism? You’re an idiot if you really believe that because as a utility worker often working in such neighborhoods, I experience it quite a bit. You can certainly experience racial discrimination if you go through a black neighbourhood. Black people experience racism going through LIFE. I’m not denying white people experience discrimination. I’m denying that what they experience as white people even registers on the scale of what black people experience. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/59 "2016-03-14T23:53:34Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > … What we suffer by virtue of being white is so insignificant in comparison with what we do to non-whites, even in 2016, … > . I didn’t get the memo – what is it that we’re supposed to be doing to the non-whites this year? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708/60 "2016-03-14T23:58:59Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > I didn’t get the memo – what is it that we’re supposed to be doing to the non-whites this year? Sigh. You’re right: racism is a thing of the past, and there is no institutionalized racism around. As long as you, personally, feel no judgements based on skin color, there is no problem. Certainly, as a white person, there is no conceivable situation in which your whiteness prevents others from viewing you with suspicion or treating you differently than they would someone else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rise-of-white-people-as-a-demographic/748708.md?page=4)