Political Communication 6794
Eli F. Bleich
Journal Entries 11-7 – 11-13


In politics, we always play to our strength.

It takes a s much hard work (actually more) and money to Change someone’s mind, as it does to Convince someone already inclined to you point of view to vote.

And the size does matter too.

So if there is a pool of 100 people who might be inclined to vote for you, and only 10 people inclined to vote against you (whose minds are changeable), in real numbers this means that an increase of 10% amongst 100 people who are on your side equals 10 votes, whereas and increase in votes among only 10 people whose minds you have to change, only equals 1.

Looking at the election (and yes, I understand that it is historic how many people were willing to vote for an African American) and comparing it to the Bush Kerry election, this principal jumps out about the African American vote. The number of Blacks actually voting increased by more than 20%, and the percentage of Blacks voting for a Democrat increased from 78% to nearly 98%.

Those numbers translate to an overwhelming win for Kerry, had everything else been equal except for the number… and percentage… of votes among the African American community going to a Democrat.

It was the Black vote that, after all is said and done, delivered the Presidency to Obama. Nothing else mattered.

We are also told that a majority of voters over 60 voted for Mc Cain, and that as the electorate got younger, the percentage shifted toward Obama… attributed to the idea that older people hold more prejudice, and that younger generations are more color blind.

But I wonder if this is true… or if people become more prejudice AS they get older. Impossible to measure anymore as it might relate to voting, I think. We all know that people get more conservative as they get older, but I would like to do some research to find out if people become more… or less… prejudice in general, as they get older too..