But African-Americans and Hispanics aren't the only minorities in this country, and the Republicans didn't do very well with any minority group. One of these groups is the Asian-Americans. In 2012, President Obama also got well over 70% of the Asian vote. And a newly released Gallup Poll (conducted between January 2nd and December 30th of 2012 of 338,703 adults nationwide, with 6,465 Asian-Americans being in the survey -- with only a 1 point margin of error) shows this is not a fluke.
The poll showed that 36% of Asian-Americans self-identified as Democrats, while only 17% identified themselves as Republicans (and 46% said they were Independents). But when the Independents were asked whether they leaned toward the Democrats or Republicans, it showed that twice as many Asian-Americans preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. The Democrats had 57%, to only 28% for the Republicans and 13% were truly Independents. And the future does not look any brighter for the GOP, since the preference for Democrats rose to 61% among 18 to 34 year olds.
Here are the party preferences for all the groups (broken down by ages).
ASIAN-AMERICANS
18 to 34
Republican...............24%
Independent...............14%
Democrat...............61%
35 to 54
Republican...............31%
Independent...............14%
Democrat...............52%
55 & over
Republican...............33%
Independent...............9%
Democrat...............55%
HISPANICS
18 to 34
Republican...............24%
Independent...............22%
Democrat...............50%
35 to 54
Republican...............24%
Independent...............20%
Democrat...............50%
55 & over
Republican...............23%
Independent...............13%
Democrat...............59%
AFRICAN-AMERICANS
18 to 34
Republican...............11%
Independent...............12%
Democrat...............75%
35 to 54
Republican...............9%
Independent...............10%
Democrat...............80%
55 & over
Republican...............7%
Independent...............6%
Democrat...............84%
WHITES
18 to 34
Republican...............44%
Independent...............14%
Democrat...............41%
35 to 54
Republican...............53%
Independent...............11%
Democrat...............36%
55 & over
Republican...............51%
Independent...............8%
Democrat...............40%
The Republicans do still have the numerical advantage among Whites, but the percentage of White voters has dropped by about 2% in each of the last few elections -- and the percentage of voters that were minorities has grown. Hispanics are the fastest-growing portion of the population, but the percentages of African-Americans and Asian-Americans are also growing larger. It has now reached the point that minorities can no longer be ignored as a non-factor in an election. All of these groups are a factor in elections now, and will become a bigger factor with each election.
If the Republicans want to remain a viable party in the future, they must reach out to minority voters. And just toning down their rhetoric or picking more ideologically pure right-wing candidates will not do that. They must change or moderate their policies -- something that will be hard to do as long as teabaggers control the party.