Democratic Win = Demographic Win?

After every Win, the focus comes to the celebrations. But for Mr.Obama is it really a time of celebrations? Political analysts are already terming this victory as “A Problem in American Politics”. 

In the next four years of his presidency, Barack Obama will expand on the efforts of his first term in office. But he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do so without a broad national base of support. In terms of the immediate results of the election, political science professor Darren Davis said Obama’s maintenance of his 2008 electorate contributed to his reelection.

Visibly the remnants of Obama’s electoral coalition from 2008, was reduced but there were still those signs of an intact coalition that got him elected. This victory definitely has a partisan cleavage, in which Democrats have the advantage because their demography is the emerging national demography. First-time voters, including many young people and immigrants, favored the president by large margins, while older voters leaned to Republican Mitt Romney.

Obama won an estimated 66 percent of the Hispanic vote, at a time when the Latino population is growing rapidly in states such as Florida, one of eight or so politically divided states that were crucial in the presidential race. Other estimates put Obama’s share of the Hispanic vote above 70 percent. Data has shown for years that the United States is poised to become a “majority minority” nation – with whites a minority of the country – over the next several decades. 

About 80 percent of blacks, Latinos and other nonwhite voters cast their ballots for Obama on Tuesday compared with less than 17 percent for Romney. Obama also won about 63 percent of total voters age 18 to 34.

Overall, Romney won nearly 57 percent of the white vote compared with 41 percent for Obama, the polling data showed. The vast majority of votes cast for Romney came from white voters.

U.S. data released earlier this year showed the number of ethnic minority births topping 50 percent of the nation’s total births for the first time. More than 70 percent voted for Obama compared with about 28 percent for Romney.

It will be years before those newest Americans will be old enough to vote, but the demographic shift is clear. Most analysts project whites to be the racial U.S. minority sometime between 2040 and 2050. 

Tuesday’s outcome poses big questions for Republicans as they seek new national leaders and prepare for the next congressional election in 2014 and beyond. This stunning defeat alarmed Republicans who fear extinction unless the party can figure out how to temper the kind of hardline immigration rhetoric that Romney delivered during his Republican primary bid.

Congratulations, Mr.President!!!