Demographics Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Obama takes the lead in Swing States with early voting

The strategy to get your people to the polls early and avoid all of those last minute problems was brilliant.

From TPM:

• In Florida, Public Policy Polling (D) has Obama up 56%-42% among early voters, with an estimated 56% of the total likely vote now cast. McCain is ahead 54%-43% with the rest, for an overall top-line of Obama 50%, McCain 48%.

• In Nevada, Public Policy Polling (D) has Obama up 57%-43% among early voters, with an estimated 71% of the total likely vote already cast. McCain is up 57%-38% among the remaining votes, for an overall top-line result of Obama 51%, McCain 47% — but McCain would need to win the remaining voters by more than two to one, if these estimates are accurate.

• In Ohio, SurveyUSA has Obama ahead 60%-36% among the early voters, with an estimated 30% of the total vote already cast. McCain is ahead 51%-43% among the remainder, for an overall top-line of Obama 48%, McCain 46%. But the pollster’s analysis expresses serious doubt about whether McCain can get the needed extra margin to overcome Obama’s early-vote lead, based on the demographics of the remaining voters.

By ecthompsonmd|2008-11-03T21:56:52-04:00November 3rd, 2008|Election 2008|Comments Off

America, Not As Black As People Imagine

A recent New York Times survey shows Senator Barack Obama leading Senator John McCain by 45 percent to 39 percent.

Okay, no surprise.

But in reading the polling data, one question did stand out. People were asked what percentage of the country was black.

The Census Bureau reports that in 2006, 12.8 percent of the American public was black. That number added up to about 38.3 million people. In the New York Times survey, 32 percent of all people said America was between 20 and 30 percent black. An additional 32 percent said the black population was between 30 and 40 percent. And 9 percent of respondents said America was a majority black nation.

Both a majority of black and white folks in the survey got the question wrong. I guess I should stop being surprised at what people don’t know, but I really don’t get how people can figure the nation is 30 percent or more black.

Do whites get it wrong out of a fear of being overrun? Are blacks looking for strength in numbers? In any case, I don’t get what people are thinking sometimes. Don’t folks have any sense of the world around them?

Here is BlackDemograhics.com with information on blacks in the United States.

By ecthompsonmd|2008-07-17T02:02:06-04:00July 17th, 2008|General|2 Comments