How obama won ohio, by the numbers

Marcus Atkinson

HispanicOhio.com editor

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As expected, as Ohio went so did the victor. Ohio was close Obama won by just two percentage points – thanks to the white male vote.

 

Obama won the highly urban areas of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngtown, and Dayton.  He won 96 percent of Ohio’s African-American vote, three percent higher than the national numbers.  He also won 82 percent of Ohio’s Hispanic vote, compared to 74 percent nationally.  Those numbers were expected, and polls factored that in when making predictions.

 

But the white male vote is where the decided vote was cast.

Obama won 41 percent of Ohio’s white male vote, compared to just 39 percent nationally, twp percentage points.

 

Obama captured a large population of the northwest Ohio white male, – one of many manufacturing centers along the northern border of the state.

 

Essentially the key to Ohio’s victory was the two percentage point difference Obama had with the white male vote compared to the national average.

 

But the minority vie cannot be forgotten.

 

Since 2008 Ohio’s electorate has changed, the white male electorate is decreasing and the Hispanic and African American electorate is increasing, making the minority vote more influential and the white male vote less influential

 

Ohio has approximately 350,000 Hispanics with about one-third of them being registered voters, exit polls show 56 percent of Hispanic Ohioans voted for Obama, helping secure his re-election.

 

So why such a large majority of Hispanics vote for Obama?

 

In Ohio, immigration was not as much an issue as in the southwestern states of Arizona and New Mexico.  In Ohio, Latinos are predominantly second and third generation Mexicans and Puerto Ricans who speak English and Spanish or only English.  This Ohio Hispanic electorate focused on jobs and a solid education for their children, not whether or not they will be stopped by law informant for possible illegal immigration.

 

 

In Ohio, about 6 out of 10 Hispanics graduate from high school.  The auto industry is one of the very few jobs the average Hispanic can receive and be able to support a family and retire comfortably.  Romney not only said he supported bankruptcy of the auto industry but he visited northwest Ohio the week before elections and told his supporters Jeep was going to move their jobs to China, not counting on the attendees to be current on events, definitely loosing some independent voters, not just white male, but every ethnicity.

 

Jeep than released a statement saying they have no intentions of moving their jobs out of Ohio.

 

The Latino vote will undoubtedly grow, not only in Ohio but nationally.  As the white male electorate continues to fall, their political influence will as well, no longer can a strong white male vote lead a national candidate to political office, a broad coalition, such as used in Ohio is key to the future, Obama learned that in 2008, perhaps the GOP learned Nov 6.