The numbers I am using in both total population and total voters by race are all the official government numbers according to the US census and should be accurate within a reasonable margin of error. I didn't say that a population increase outpasing voter increase automatically equals a drop in participation, I only said one could use the numbers to make the argument if they wanted to. But is a very incomplete way of doing so because in addition to new ineligible births, it doesn't take in to deaths of previously eligible voters, or how many minors came of age during that time period.
When everything is factored, in terms of elegible voters, there has been an increase in participation, which I already said in my first responce. But as I also said that increase was already happening at a consistent rate that didn't spike in 2008. This is the participation rates for eligible African American voters since '96...
So that rise is pretty consistent across the board with or without Obama. Also, when you say that African Americans never participate at the rates white do, in '12, only 64.1% of eligible white votes went to the polls vs 66.2% of eligible African Americans.
While that still means that because of total population levels significantly more for whites that a lot more whites voted. But on terms of participation relative to population size African Americans participated at a higher rate. While African American participation has been steadily climbing, white participation has dropped off in each of the last two election cycles.
If you would like to view the Census numbers, you can find them here...
Blacks don't seem to like him.
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The numbers I am using in both total population and total voters by race are all the official government numbers according to the US census and should be accurate within a reasonable margin of error. I didn't say that a population increase outpasing voter increase automatically equals a drop in participation, I only said one could use the numbers to make the argument if they wanted to. But is a very incomplete way of doing so because in addition to new ineligible births, it doesn't take in to deaths of previously eligible voters, or how many minors came of age during that time period.
When everything is factored, in terms of elegible voters, there has been an increase in participation, which I already said in my first responce. But as I also said that increase was already happening at a consistent rate that didn't spike in 2008. This is the participation rates for eligible African American voters since '96...
'96 - 53.0%
'00 - 56.8%
'04 - 60.0%
'08 - 64.7%
'12 - 66.2%
So that rise is pretty consistent across the board with or without Obama. Also, when you say that African Americans never participate at the rates white do, in '12, only 64.1% of eligible white votes went to the polls vs 66.2% of eligible African Americans.
While that still means that because of total population levels significantly more for whites that a lot more whites voted. But on terms of participation relative to population size African Americans participated at a higher rate. While African American participation has been steadily climbing, white participation has dropped off in each of the last two election cycles.
If you would like to view the Census numbers, you can find them here...
https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-568.pdf