(My new American Thinker post)
There were two big shocks for me on election night
2012:
1) Obama beat Romney. I had concluded that 2012 would look a
lot like 2004, i.e. a 50-49 victory with about 290 Electoral votes. I did not
subscribe to the landslide (i.e. Dick Morris) but did see a narrow Romney
victory!
2) All of the talk about the "hispano" vote. I had looked at
anecdotal evidence and did not see a "hispano" wave on election day. So I was
surprised with all of the conventional wisdom that "hispanos" had reelected
Obama.
It turns out that "hispanos" did not really show up after all,
according to the CIS,
or Center for Immigration Studies:
"Hispanics were 8.4 percent of voters (11.2 million), close to
the 8.9 percent the Center for Immigration Studies projected prior to the
November election.1
If Hispanic turnout had been what it was in 2008, 450,000 more Hispanics would
have voted. "
Unfortunately for Romney, whites also stayed
home:
"If white turnout had been what it was in 2004, 4.7 million
more of them would have voted. Of the 4.7 million whites who sat home on
Election Day relative to 2004, 4.2 million did not have a bachelor's
degree."
It looks like Romney had a "white" not "hispano"
problem.
Don't get me wrong. The GOP has to attract more "hispanos".
I like the opportunity message that you are hearing from Senator Cruz of
Texas.
However, we can not forget about low income whites, or a large
segment of the population that feels disconnected from both
parties.
We should also consider the impact of the destructive attacks
on Romney. He was made out to be "a bloody capitalist" with no concern for the
guy at the plant floor. I believe that these "unfair" attacks worked and
that's why so many low income whites stayed home. They couldn't vote for Obama
and chose not to vote for Romney either!
Tags: It was whites who stayed home To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!