One of the big disappointments of the 2012 election for Republicans was the disastrous showing they had with Latinos (29 percent) and Asians (27 percent). This was especially disappointing because Republicans had carried the Asian vote for president until 1996 and won over 40 percent of Latinos as recently as George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004.
Midterm election turnouts, of course, are different from those in presidential years. But they are still instructive. According to the national exit poll of how voters cast ballots in House races, Democrats won only 64 percent of Latinos and only 52 percent of Asian voters. Among American Indians (1 percent of the national total) they actually lost to Republicans, losing with 43 percent of the vote to the GOP’s 52 percent.
Not all went well with Republicans when it came to minority voters. Democrats won 90 percent of African Americans and there is no evidence that younger blacks are moving away from the party. There was a clear gender gap when it came to the willingness of Latinos to back Republicans — Democrats won only 58 percent of male Latinos but a crushing 69 percent of Latino females.
Despite the turnout variation with presidential years, look for RNC chairman Reince Priebus to declare real progress in his quest to reach out to minority communities and compete actively for their support.