Black voters turned out in record numbers in key swing states like Ohio to reelect President Barack Obama in 2012, and some of the nation's most prominent black leaders are now demanding Obama pay back this support in his second term with policies that favor black and urban communities.
National Urban League President Marc Morial sent a
letter to Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after the election, urging them to put "a
special focus on those communities where unemployment is and remains
stubbornly and persistently high."
"We who represent the nation's urban communities will demand a seat at the table in these discussions," Morial wrote.
Al Sharpton met with Obama last week and said “the
president heard us loud and clear” about raising taxes on those making
over $250,000 during the fiscal cliff negotiations and not cutting
spending on programs that impact the middle and working class.
NAACP President Benjamin Jealous also implied that Obama
should raise taxes on the wealthy: “we need Republicans to think hard
and to pull back from the cliff 98 percent of our families, who make up
the bulk of this nation, from seeing our taxes being raised.”
Nowhere was black voter turnout more
important than in Ohio, where a historic turnout (blacks make up 12% of
Ohio's population but made up 15% of the state's 2012 electorate)
propelled Obama to vicyory:
In 2012, blacks made up 15% of Ohio's electorate, and Obama received 96% of their vote to Mitt Romney's 4%.In 2008, black turnout made up 11% of Ohio's electorate, and Obama won blacks by 95 points (97%-2%) over John McCain.In 2004, black voters accounted for 10% of the vote Ohio. John Kerry received 84% of the black vote, while George W. Bush received 16%, five points above Bush's national average among blacks.
In Michigan, black voters made up 16% of the electorate in
2012, up from 12% in 2008. In Virginia, blacks made up 20% of the
electorate in 2008 and 2012.
According to exit polls, black women in 2008 had the
highest turnout rate — 69% — of all groups. And in 2012, "black women
made up 60 percent of the black vote this year and voted 95 percent for
Obama.
Melanie Campbell, president and
CEO of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, said the
enthusiasm of black women was evident in places like Florida where
churches organized "Souls To the Polls" early voting campaigns. She
recounted, "countless women stood in line for hours to vote early so
they could volunteer to work at the polls," because they were motivated
by the Obama campaign's claims that Republicans were trying to suppress
the black vote.
Blacks voted for Obama in record numbers even though some
black leaders worried voters would stay at home because Obama had not
improved their economic situations and some thought Obama was not
liberal enough.
But their worries turned out to be unfounded, as black
voters turned out as enthusiastically as they did in 2008, even though
Obama's economy has been responsible for unemployment skyrocketing in
black communities. According to the Associated Press, black unemployment
was 12.7% when Obama took office, peaked at 16.5% a year later, and was
at 14.3% in October. Nationally, the current unemployment rate is 7.9
percent.
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