There would have been no blue wave across the country after the midterm elections if not for voters of color.
The NAACP, Advancement Project and African American Research Collaborative released results Monday from a poll that looked at African American voters across various competitive elections to determine how they engaged this year and how findings might shape the future of elections.
In partnership with Asian American Decisions and Latino Decisions, the African American Research Collaborative completed 9,400 interviews with Black, Latino, AAPI, Native, and white registered voters who had already voted early, or were certain to vote in the Nov. 6 general election.
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, said the poll results were very telling.
“It is very simple,” he said. “African Americans are concerned about the political landscape. They want to be respected and heard.”
The key takeaway from the poll was that Democrats’ 2018 wins across the country were dependent on voters of color, particularly black voters, as a majority of white voters supported Republicans. Four out of five Black voters voted for Democrats compared to less than one-half of white voters.
At a webinar, members of each of the organizations involved with the poll pointed out that to have similar or greater wins in 2020, Democrats must invest in communities of color and the issues that matter most to those constituents.
Among some of the other findings discussed: self-organizing among Black voters made a big difference on turnout; the Black vote was particularly strong in Georgia and Nevada; anger and disrespect were major motivators for Black voters — 83 percent of the Black population polled feel disrespected by President Donald Trump (81 percent of those who felt that way were Black women).
“Black women are clearly a political force to be reckoned with and recognized,” said Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director of the Advancement Project. “They get it.”
Dianis said Black voters brought their friends and family members to the polls with them, and that people who hadn’t shown up at previous elections turned out for the midterms.
“People of color are engaged,” she added. “They are not apathetic, and they are ready for change.”
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