From Project Vote: Representational Bias in the 2008 Election

Doug Hess and Jody Herman of Project Vote have just released this report detailing the increase in diversity in the 2008 electorate.

The report finds that although older, wealthier White voters continue to make up a disproportionately larger amount of the electorate, a rapid increase in the diversification of the adult citizen population since the 2004 election contributed to increased voting among minority groups in 2008.

Among the report's conclusions are:

• Voting among non-Whites in 2008 made up approximately 91 percent of the increase in the total number of voters since 2004. This increase was driven by an increase in minority voters under the age of 30. In fact, because of this increase in participation by young minority voters, 2008 was the only election in recent memory where the voting rate by youth increased while the rate for those 30 and over did not.
• Registration rates increased remarkably among young Black men (8 percentage points), young Latinos of both genders (6 percentage points), and Asians (5 percentage points for young men and 13 points for young women).
• Among younger populations, Black women voted at the highest rate (64 percent), followed by White women (56 percent) and Black men (52 percent). All minority groups under 30 saw increases in their turnout rates compared to 2004.