NEXT AMERICA

Book: Why the Racial Gap Will Widen

Author explores evolution of parties as nation diversifies.

By Ronald Brownstein

Updated: May 23, 2012 | 6:23 p.m.
May 23, 2012 | 6:19 p.m.

As gaping as it was in 2008, the racial gap between the parties in presidential politics is likely to only widen in the coming years.

In a fresh and insightful new book, Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz points out that during the presidential elections of the 1950s, non-whites provided about 7 percent of all the votes won by Democrats and 3 percent of the votes collected by Republicans, according to the University of Michigan's National Election Studies data.

But since then, he writes in The Polarized Public? Why American Government is So Dysfunctional, "the racial divide between supporters of the two parties has widened, from a very narrow gap...to a yawning chasm...."

By 2008, according to the Edison Research exit polls, minorities provided about two-fifths of all the votes cast for Barack Obama and only about one in every 10 votes won by John McCain. One party has become kaleidoscopic; the other has remained largely monochromatic.

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What is Next America?
Virtually every issue the United States contends with promises to be affected by deep currents of change illuminated by demographic shifts. With The Next America, National Journal unveils an unprecedented effort to explore the significant political, economic and social impact of profound racial and cultural changes.

The initiative includes polls, national and local events with thought leaders, magazine supplements and launch of a full website May 1.


The Story That Started It All

In 2010, Ronald Brownstein wrote The Gray and the Brown: A Generational Mismatch about America’s shift to an older, more ethnically diverse population and how these changes affect us as a nation.