My older daughter began her academic career at Stone Scholastic Academy in Chicago. In the days that she was there, the Chicago Public Schools made a concerted effort to keep their magnet schools at an even racial balance between whites, African Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latinos. And Stone actually achieved this balance very well, with all four groups being somewhere near 25% of the student body. It didn’t reflect the racial realities of this city, but it was a pretty neat thing to see when it was put into practice.
I thought of this as I looked at a national exit poll that was produced by Fox News.The numbers revealed that President Obama won just 39 percent of the white vote, and Governor Romney won 59%. But that’s the only victory that Romney won, as Obama got 93% of the African American vote, and upwards of 70% of the Asian-American and Latino vote. So three of the four racial groups went for Obama, and by large enough margins to offset Romney’s advantage with white voters.
Unless the Republicans can find some way to change these numbers, they’ll never again win a presidential race. They’ll win congressional races and senate seats in places where the population is mostly white people, but in a national race–where everyone gets to vote–the Republicans are now officially doomed. How long it remains that way will be entirely up to them.
