Election indicates failure with minorities
Tuesday’s presidential election results are the writing on the wall for the GOP: in a rapidly diversifying nation, securing the white vote is no longer the path to success. We’ve all been hearing about the gender gap, which was apparent in the polling data, but the less-mentioned racial gap was astounding. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney secured nearly 60 percent of the white vote while President Barack Obama received over 90 percent of the black vote and about 70 percent of the Hispanic vote. In a nation of freedom and diversity, the racially defined political chasm is troubling.
Lucky for Democrats, the rapidly expanding minority population is overwhelmingly liberal. Republicans, however, must find ways to appeal to non-white voters. The tea party movement certainly represents a turn in the wrong direction. Cooler, moderate heads in the GOP must step forth and voice their concerns if the party is to succeed at the national level ever again.
The tea party, which seems so concerned with its own agenda with little care for the success of the party, deserves much of the blame. Whether minority distaste for the tea party is a concoction of the liberal media, as many right-wingers claim, or a legitimate policy repudiation is beside the point. What matters is that the party is losing the demographic battle to Democrats. Badly. Until the GOP is able to distance itself from the extreme right wing, Democratic presidents will be a staple of the Oval Office.
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