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Originally Posted by Cali Coug
Give me a citation.
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The results I cited come from CNN's exit polling (links below). Interestingly enough Bush's 2000 black vote exactly mirrored Reagan's 1984 black vote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Coug
No other contingency? Like Mormons?
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I think you mean "constituency" although "demographic" is a better word. Mormons were not included as a separate category in the exit poll results.
As you can see, until you get to political questions, no demographic is more politically monolithic. The only one that gets close are Jews who voted 80/17 for Gore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Coug
You are making a chicken-egg argument here that is circular. Did 91% of blacks in 2000 vote for Gore because they are ignored by Republicans, or did Republicans ignore them because they knew 91% would vote Democratic? What evidence do you have that it was the former and not the latter?
You still haven't bothered to explain how you can, on the one hand, claim that parties only respond to constituencies and not the other way around, while simultaneously arguing that they both respond to each other.
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I suppose both sides have legitimate gripes about the other, and some that are not so legitimate. However, if memory serves, one of the (many) stories to come out of the 2000 election was how badly Bush did with blacks despite a concerted effort to court black votes. A second attempt in 2004 yielded 11% of the black vote, which was considered a stunning improvement by some.
The GOP will continue to try (and it should) because there are people who care about courting black votes in the party. But until blacks as a "community" decide that not only one party can meet their interests, there is little the GOP can do to change their voting patterns.
To bring this discussion back to the original topic, GOP candidates might as well appear at a Democrat fundraiser as speak to the NAACP. When the face of black America is Kweisi Mfume, Julian Bond, Harry Belafonte, and the kingpins of race-baiting politics, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson .... when large percentage of blacks believe that the GOP blew up the levies to kill more black people .... there is nothing to be accomplished by making an appearance in front of a hostile organization.
1984 exit polling
2000 exit polling