The rate of the white ethnic group dropping from the ideologies of the Democrat party has increased over the years. The slow change of the supporters had been attributed to Democrats losses of the south due to their backing of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965. Bill Clinton had 49 percent of the white votes in 1996, Al Gore secured 43 percent in 2000 while John F. Kerry gained 41 percent in 2004. Research on the election study had come up with two factors that led to the movement of the whites from the Democrats party. The first factor is due to the radical growth of the elite polarization (Washington 2018). This factor has two contrasting ideologies where the Republicans embrace being conservatives and the liberal ideologies of the Democrats. The turns of events have been different from the previous era where the Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats had a different projection from the rest of the parties.
The second aspect is imposed by the change of the demographic ratio of whites and the nonwhites in the electorate. The percentage changes of the nonwhites have increased to 29 percent in 2016 compared to 11percent in 1976 and 19 percent in the 2000s (Washington 2018). the change has been attributed to various issues where the white voter is more likely to be conservative on economic issue and liberal on abortion and gender issues of the gay community.
The white voters who support the Democrats ideologies differ from the previous supporters of the recent time. The percentage of the white voter comes from a greater magnitude of college voters. These have made it easier for voters to decide which party suites the political and social ideologies. The white voter influence on the Democrats vote is attributed to the shift of party’s positions and the demographic position of the country.
Reference
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/05/22/whites-have-fled-the-democratic-party-heres-how-the-nation-got-there/?noredirect=on
