The GOP is no party for blacks, Latinos and gays By Jonathan Capehart: The Republican meltdown over its decisive loss at the ballot box in the presidential election has been a sight to behold. Karl Rove flipped out on Fox News. Mary Matalin had a near-meltdown on CNN. And, according to The Post, the GOP has begun “an exhaustive review to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.” That’s a waste of time and (more) money. Everyone in the reality-based community knows what went wrong. The coalition President Obama put together in 2008 came out big for him again in 2012. A big chunk of the reason is because African Americans, Latinos, young people, women and more than a few “white guys” like him. But the intemperate remarks of Republican candidates, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney, on a host of issues that many of these groups care about also did them in. What many Republican leaders fail to understand is that the party is leaving votes on the table that could be theirs. Votes they once were able to attract before they became viewed as a collection of mean, monochromatic and reactionary people clinging to Ronald Reagan’s America instead of coming to terms with, if not embracing, the vibrant nation we live in today. Romney snatched 6 percent of the African American vote away from Obama. That was 2 percent better than Sen. John McCain attracted in 2008. But Romney has nothing on the late President Richard Nixon, who got 18 percent of the black vote in 1972. No Republican has matched that level of support since. Romney got 27 percent of the Latino vote. But that was 17 points below what President George W. Bush garnered in 2004. No Republican had reached that level of support before him, and none has since. McCain earned 31 percent of the Latino vote, four points more than Romney. While African Americans and Latinos are reliable voting blocs for Democrats, they certainly are not beyond reach of Republicans. And polls of blacks and Latinos in key swing states show that, had Romney shown a combination of moderation, compassion and interest, he could have won. An ImpreMedia/Latino Decisions 2012 Latino Election Eve Poll surveyed Hispanic voters in 11 states. When asked if they would be “more likely” or “less likely” to vote GOP “if the Republican Party took a leadership role in supporting comprehensive immigration reform,” 31 percent said “more likely.” Romney’s ridiculous invention of “self-deportation” helped him snuff out the primary challenge from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but it also killed his appeal to Latino voters.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:11:26 +0000
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