2012 Presidential Election Roundup: Blacks, Latinos, and Independents - A New Political Culture for America

African-Americans and Latinos, along with Asians and women re-elected President Obama. And if you look closely, you will see a new coalition emerging in America that bodes well for a new political culture. And among that demographic are many many independents. We are the 40% and counting!

President Obama Wins Florida with the Independent Vote (By Brenda Evans, IVN) The large group of independent voters swung in Obama’s favor gaining 50 percent of the vote. The percentage of Republicans was equal to that  of Independents, putting the decision largely in the hands of independent.

Election lessons: Latino vote, ticket-splitters rule the day (By Laura Myers, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL) Independents, who made up one-third of the Nevada electorate, by far favored Heller over Berkley, 54-34, or by 20 points, the exit poll showed. Romney led Obama but by a slimmer margin, 50-43, among independents.

• Democrats, Latinos flexed muscle for Obama in Pa. (MARC LEVY, Associated Press, Seattle Times)  In PA, independents and Republicans voted against Obama in higher proportions, as did older voters and whites, according to an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks.

• Obama Abandons Independent Voters (Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine) [NOTE: Commentary is a right wing publication] Put two and two together, and you have an abandonment of the chase for independent voters. Obama’s exhortation to just vote is made to his supporters at rallies–people he knows (or assumes) are in his camp. And that is exactly to whom his issue-based pitch is made. The broad electorate has soured on Obama’s foreign policy, nearly erasing the lead he once had on the subject. And that’s because the country thinks a foreign policy must be about more than just adhering to withdrawal timetables. But that’s what Obama’s left-wing base wanted out of him on foreign policy. And that’s all they got.

Save the Date:

Saturday, February 16th, 2013
National Conference of Independents
Sponsored by IndependentVoting.org
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
New York City
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