The White vote.

[Athena]

but if having the first mixed race candidate on the ballot caused turnout to spike (and if it will decrease when we're back to two old white guys running against each other)

I'm sorry but I think you are misinterpreting what happened in the past 4 years and why Obama garnered the overwhelming majority of Latino and Asian vote: Obama's very existence exposed the profound racism that has become a key component of the current Republican party. It highlighted once and for all, the Republican notion that American = White Christian and that only those who earn honorary white status (i.e. Cubans) are worth recognizing.

When Lee Atwater and Kevin Phillips developed the southern strategy, they were cynically exploiting the racism of their target audience. After 40 years, the result is a party in which racial holdouts not only comprise the majority of the party, but really believe that all "true Americans" share their views. In this election, those at the top of the party made it clear that holding on to those supporters was of primary importance to them.

Any time the co-chair of the campaign denigrates the foreign policy observations of a former Republican Secretary of State (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) as nothing more than racial solidarity, the party has a big problem. Whites may have seen it as a business as usual, black/white issue but every minority professional across the country who has had his/her competence questioned by an unqualified white person sat up and took notice. They remembered that the same person had previously told the President of the United States that he had to learn to be an American.

There were people voting in this last election who were born in WWII relocation camps; whose families lost businesses and farms to anti-Japanese hysteria. They think that they are as American as anyone in the Tennessee NRA and they do not think a presidential candidate should condone racism in any form. Other voters, who can trace their ancestry to pre-statehood, attended hispanic segregated schools in California. They don't care about immigration (a racist assumption if ever there was one), they want to be respected for what they are -- US Citizens.

Moderate conservatives who say "they share our values so they ought to vote with us" and claim that it's just a matter of "tone" remain clueless. Descendants of people who have felt the crippling effects of racism are not interested in enabling a party that wants their votes while admonishing them that their differing views are not "American" enough.

 

[Athena]

Over half the republican party lives in rural areas and these ignorant rednecks pushing antebellum politics, hate mongering, and Victorian era values won't give up the ghost for a few generations to come..

Again, Republicans strategists in the 70s encouraged them to think they were in the right. The overwhelming racism exhibited by Romney's surrogates was a direct outcome of two decades of courting just that element of the electorate.

Not everyone who voted Republican is racist, there are many political issues that transcend race. The party has gone down that track for so long however, that most Republican politicians are incapable of articulating their issues without unconsciously including dog-whistle components to appeal to those who really do comprise their base now.

Just look at the messages here: it's not enough to question early voting, a poster has to say that the main reason some people might not be able to vote on a single designated day is that they are just drunks. People can't just say that they believe we need to re-think some entitlement programs because they appear to be unsustainable for the country; they have to cast aspersions on anyone who has ever received any kind of aid. People did not always react this way; they have been carefully taught to despise anyone who is not just like them or may disgree on matters of policy -- and it was the Republican party leaders who taught them that.

 

[wuliheron]

Again, Republicans strategists in the 70s encouraged them to think they were in the right. The overwhelming racism exhibited by Romney's surrogates was a direct outcome of two decades of courting just that element of the electorate.

I beg to differ. The problem is the republican party has been in retreat ever since adopting the Southern Strategy. They've lost ground on civil rights, women's rights, abortion rights, expanding entitlements, and now even gay marriage and marijuana. They lost so much ground and painted themselves into a corner so thoroughly the only alternative they had left was to adopt the radical atavistic stance of the Tea Party and the denial has reached such a fevered pitch they're coming unhinged. Some people just prefer to rant and rave when they think the sky is falling rather than deal with the situation maturely.

Again, this vote is the first wake up call to these ignorant hillbillies who are increasingly senior citizens who watch entirely too much Fox News, reality TV, and listen to Rush Limbaugh to wake up and smell the coffee. Either they get their heads screwed on straight and learn to face reality and get along with people or go to the back of the bus.

 

[techs]

After 4 years of racist tweets, posts, call ins, photochops, etc the Republicans just got used to the fact that within their little universe it was perfectly ok and perfectly accurate to be overtly racist.
The girl who lost her job over her racist facebook post was probably stunned that anyone could have a problem with her post. After all, after years of seeing everyone try and top everyone else in who could be the most racist she was effectively brainwashed.

The Republicans should have spent a little less time being scornful of political correctness since it gave their followers the idea that open racism was ok and that all the cool kids were doing it.

 

[hal2kilo]

I'm sorry but I think you are misinterpreting what happened in the past 4 years and why Obama garnered the overwhelming majority of Latino and Asian vote: Obama's very existence exposed the profound racism that has become a key component of the current Republican party. It highlighted once and for all, the Republican notion that American = White Christian and that only those who earn honorary white status (i.e. Cubans) are worth recognizing

That has always mystified me.

 

[Fern]

Note that the graph doesn't start at zero percent.

I'd like to see a chart on the percentage of white voters who actually turn out and compare to your chart.

Fern