CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)
conducts research on the civic and political engagement of young Americans.
The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement

African-American College Students in 2008 and 2010

June 13th, 2011
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If you asked a casual observer of American politics who Barack Obama’s most ardent supporters were in 2008, they would likely have identified two groups: African-Americans and college students. So it’s no surprise that African-American college students turned out to vote in 2008 at their highest rate in decades:

Turnout for presidential elections

Source: Current Population Survey November Supplements 1984-2010, analyzed by CIRCLE

Turnout had been rising steadily for African-American college students since 1996, but that was due in part to a rise in turnout among all adults. In 2008, while turnout held steady nationwide, African-American college students were ten percentage points more likely to vote than they had been in 2004. They were four points more likely to vote than the average citizen, and nine points more likely to vote than non-African-American college students. Did they vote at the same impressive rates in 2010?

Turnout in midterm elections

Source: Current Population Survey November Supplements 1984-2010, analyzed by CIRCLE

In 2010, African-American college students – like the rest of the population – voted a rate that was all but unchanged from the last two midterm elections in 2006 and 2002. One possible explanation is that African-American college students are especially likely to live in uncompetitive states: 26.3% of all Americans lived in a state where a 2010 senate race was decided by ten points or fewer, against 20.5% of African-American college students. Obama’s campaign (and those of his competitors) needed these students to vote in the primaries in 2008; perhaps nobody asked for their vote in 2010.

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