Are Whites Voting For Mitt Romney Because He’s White

Does it sound like a crazy question to ask if whites are voting for Mitt Romney because he is white? Why does that question sound more outlandish than the often spouted supposition that blacks are voting for President Obama because he is black? John Sununu, one of Mitt Romney’s top surrogates, recently said that Colin Powell was endorsing President Obama because they are of the same race.

Until 2008 the issue of why any voter was voting for any candidate for President due to a racial preference never came up because al of the candidates had all been of the same race.  Now in 2012 it appears that the same question from 2008 is back again. In 2008 96 percent of black voters voted for Barack Obama. In 2000 Al Gore got 91% of the black vote. It’s is not like African Americans just began to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats for President.



Could the problem lie in the signals towards the black community emanating from the Republican Party that drives up the voting percentages for their opponents? The list is long concerning various acts and statements over the last 4 years that would cause one to ponder if certain groups were viewed as equally deserving to have their hands on the reigns of government power as others. The first sitting President in history that felt compelled to release his birth certificate to quell a circus of distraction just happened to be the first President from a minority group in the United States.

It never crossed anyone’s mind to ask if whites voted for Presidents Reagan, Clinton or G. W. Bush because of their race because the Republicans still only pulled a small percentage African American support. It does not seem to be race, but policies that are driving certain voting blocks away from the Republican Party. If blacks were not voting in large numbers for Republicans before Obama ran for President, then why is the fact that they still are not voting for Republicans suddenly due to the race of the Democratic candidate for President. Not only have the Republicans alienated the black voting community, they seem to be working hard to do the same thing with the Latino community.

The charge that many that support President Barack Obama are doing so because he is black is an easy way for supporters of Mitt Romney to pave over the lack of substance, position changes and other issues with their candidates campaign. By placing the opposition to their candidate on something as basic as race gives many an easy out to avoid any real scrutiny of the effect that the policies endorsed by Romney would have if they actually went into effect.