Prometheus 6

News Analysis: Being Liberal Now Means Being African American
By Phil Reiff and Jason Alderman

If American liberals had four legs and fur, they would have been put on the Endangered Species List following last year’s presidential election. Defining who is liberal has become a national sport among politicians, as Democrats frantically run from the moniker, while Republicans hurl the invective blindly at everyone on the other side of the aisle.

New research done by the Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) reveals who the real liberals in American are and the answer is not the tree-hugging, ponytail wearing ex-hippies you might expect. Instead, the new face of American liberalism is of a decidedly different hue. The nation’s remaining liberals are overwhelming African Americans.

Watch that link, it's to a Microsoft Word .doc file.

Leaving my reason for investigating this as an execise for the reader, let's try a thought experiment.

Black Americans are about 13% of the population, and we know the electorate is split like 45-45 and 10% undecided. For the sake of discussion, let's assume every Black person is a liberal. That would mean 13/45 ~= 29% of liberals are Black.

Hardly overwhelming. Especially since Black Republicans keep telling us more and more Black folks are getting the religion.

It would also mean that 32% of the non-Black population is liberal while 45% is conservative. Okay, let's split the undecideds and say 37% versus 52%. Still not overwhelmingly conservative.

I do want you to do that exercise. BACVR's site is here...context and all that.