NEW BYP MEMO: The Political Impact of Young People of Color in the 2012 Election
Today, the Black Youth Project releases its latest memo: “The Political Impact of Young People of Color in the 2012 Election.”
This new analysis shows that youth again increased their presence at the voting booth, and this increase was driven largely by high levels of turnout among young Blacks and Latinos.
Young people of color played an especially important role in President Obama’s re-election. Young Blacks and Latinos supported Obama at rates similar to 2008, while support for Obama among white youth dropped by ten percentage points.
In sum, focusing on youth as one voting bloc obscures these important differences across racial groups. Any valuable discussion of young voters must be attuned to these patterns.
Because of the increased percentages of young people of color in the population and in the voting electorate, these populations have played an increasingly important role in selecting the nation’s president, and will continue to do so.
“The Political Impact of Young People of Color in the 2012 Election” is the eighth in a series entitled Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics released by the Black Youth Project.