In oct 2024‚ Barack Obama made headlines when he criticized Black menʼs support for vice-president Kamala Harris: his comments showed a basic misunderstanding of modern voter groups
The election results proved Obama wrong — Black men showed strong support (about 74% voted for Harris) while other groups gave less backing. This voting pattern raises questions about how we look at racial groups in US politics; its more complex than many think
Recent data shows interesting splits in voter groups: foreign-born Black voters chose different candidates than US-born ones‚ and Latino voters from different countries made very different choices. Take Cuban-Americans who backed Donald Trump at 58% — thats way higher than Mexican-Americans at just 33% (these numbers come from pre-election polls)
The way we group voters needs a big update:
- Caribbean immigrants
- African newcomers
- Multi-generation Americans
- Recent Latin American arrivals
Looking at history helps explain things — even “white“ wasnt always one group. Irish‚ Italian and Jewish people werent seen as part of the same group until mid-20th century; now we dont think twice about it
Modern immigration keeps changing things up: since 2k the number of foreign-born Black residents has doubled with most coming from Africa or Caribbean nations. These new Americans often view politics different than families whove been here for generations — something Joe Biden learned when he made that famous “aint black“ comment during his campaign
Politicians keep making the same mistake: thinking all voters from one background will think the same way. The data shows thats just not true anymore (if it ever was)