[FairOpinion]

I guess it will come down to the racial mixture of the electorate. That's why Bush needs to make inroads with Hispanics and Blacks. You can't win an election, without them.

I think it is quite remarkable that Bush had a significant approval rating among Hispanics, but for some reason -- probably as a result of the Democrats relentless lies, which went unchallenged by Republicans, Bush's approval rating dropped from 67 to 40% among Hispanics over the past year. Half of his support among Blacks evaporated also.

He needs to get that support back.

[goldstategop]

All that hispandering by the Bushies have turned off white voters and it hasn't brought Hispanics into the Bush camp. Go figure.

[FairOpinion]

Gallup PING

[ambrose]

W only got 8% of the black vote in '00. 12% is an improvement.

[adam_az]

Since when is "hispanic" a *race?*

[k2blader]

I think stuff like this only serves to increase racial division in our nation.

[ChiMark]

The "pandering " to hispanics is sickening. Is that why they are to become 60% of our population? politicians selling out
our country to gain votes of an ethnic group.

Both parties stink on this issue.

[Jorge]

All the polls show Bush getting a much larger percentage of the hispanic vote than he got in 2000. Which is encouraging.

[Badeye]

"I think it is quite remarkable that Bush had a significant approval rating among Hispanics, but for some reason -- probably as a result of the Democrats relentless lies, which went unchallenged by Republicans, Bush's approval rating dropped from 67 to 40% among Hispanics over the past year. Half of his support among Blacks evaporated also.

He needs to get that support back."

The Republican Convention will bring around most of the hispanic vote this poll shows as "lost". I'm personally not to concerned about that aspect. Let the President speak in Spanish for two minutes, and thats a done deal.

As for African Americans, neither the President, nor former President Reagan, received more than single digit support. In short, they are less of a factor now than in 1980 or 1984.

Where this nomination with Edwards will help President Bush is with small business owners. They can't afford to provide health care coverage (I'm one of them, btw) due to Trial Lawyers like Edwards. And its very easy to overlook who exactly, makes up the majority in every national election.

It isn't blacks, it isn't hispanics.

[AD from SpringBay]

Non-Hispanic White bump. Trend of the future?

[AppyPappy]

Pandering drives off the base. We need to stick to the platform.

[TomEwall]

I read that the Bush campaign will be targeting Blacks in certain key areas, but not nationally. His views appeal to church-going Blacks, and there are also younger Blacks which are more independent in their thinking.

[The South Texan]

Let's see Bush got around 40% from Hispanics when he ran for re-election for governor in 1998. And now Gallup thinks 38% is bad for Bush?

[kabar]

This is good news. In 2000 Gore received 90% of the black vote and Bush received 8% of the black vote. Gore received 67% of the Hispanic vote. Bush should be happy with these numbers.

Dole actually received 12% of the black vote in 1996. Of Gore's total vote, 28.5% came from blacks and hispanics. Without a significant turnout of minority voters, the Dems lose.

[kabar]

The Democratic share of the black vote in 2000 increased from its already high level in 1996. Vice-President Gore’s share of the black vote was 90 percent in 2000, up from President Clinton’s 84 percent in 1996. Governor Bush’s eight percent of the black vote was less than Senator Bob Dole’s 12 percent in 1996. Ralph Nader received one percent of the black vote, considerably less than the four percent RossPerot received in 1996.

All segments among black voters gave Gore similar levels of support, except when distinguished bygender. Black women gave Gore a higher level of support (94 percent) than black men (85 percent). Sinceblack women were also a larger share of the electorate (six percent) than black men (four percent), their greater support for Gore meant that their contribution to Gore’s total vote (11.8 percent of the nationaltotal) was significantly higher than black men’s contribution (7.1 percent)

In the states where most African Americans live, Gore generally received a higher percentage of the blackvote in 2000 than did President Clinton in 1996 . With the exceptions of Arkansas(Clinton’s home state), Louisiana, and Maryland, Gore in 2000 received the same or a higher share of theblack vote than Clinton in 1996. Unfortunately for Gore, in many of the states where the black vote represented a large percentage of his total, he lost because support among many white voters was low. In Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, more than half of Gore’s votes were cast by African Americans, yet he lost those states, as he did his home state of Tennessee, where the black share of his vote increased from 24 percent in 1996 to 35 percent.

Blacks contributed 18.9 percent of Gore’s vote in 2000, up from the 17.1 percent they contributed when Clinton was re-elected in 1996. Hispanic voters also represented a larger share of Gore’s vote in 2000. In 1996, Hispanic voters represented 7.3 percent of Clinton’s vote (they were five percent of allvoters and they gave Clinton 72 percent of their votes), while in 2000, they represented 9.6 percent of Gore’s total vote (they were seven percent of all voters and they gave Gore 67 percent of their votes). In 1996, black and Hispanic votes, combined, made up 24.4 percent of Clinton’s total. In 2000, 28.5 percent of Gore’s vote was cast by black and Hispanic voters.

[gathersnomoss]

Hispanics will be the Majority in 2050 according to demographic studies. There goes the neighborhood. Welcome to socialism.

BTW, PC sux.