Black voters in 2012 outpaced whites

WASHINGTON — November’s election marked the first time in U.S. history that black voters turned out at a higher rate than whites, according to new census data showing how much the country’s burgeoning population of racial and ethnic minorities has reshaped the electorate.

Some of the increase in black voting stems from enthusiasm for President Barack Obama and his campaign’s mobilization efforts, but much of the gain reflects a trend of ever-greater participation among blacks. Many were denied the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and have been the target of intensive voter registration and turnout efforts ever since. Staying home

Turnout has gone from 53 percent of voting-age blacks in 1996, the earliest year for which the U.S. Census has comparable data, to 66.2 percent in the most recent election. In all, almost 18 million blacks voted last fall, the census estimates, up about 1.7 million from 2008.

White voter turnout, by contrast, rose from 1996 to a peak in 2004, when President George W. Bush won re-election, and has declined through Obama’s elections, to 64.1 percent this past November.

Not only has white turnout gone down; the white share of the U.S. population also has declined. The lower population share combined with a lower turnout led the number of white voters to drop by 2 million between 2008 and 2012.

It’s the only time since 1996 that the census has recorded a drop in the total votes cast by a racial group from one election to the next.

Black turnout rates exceeded whites mostly in the East and Midwest, perhaps reflecting high levels of voter mobilization in major battleground states. Mid-Atlantic gap

The gap was largest in the mid-Atlantic states, where a high black turnout was key to Obama’s victory in Pennsylvania, and in a swath of Southern and border states from Kentucky down through Louisiana and Mississippi.

White turnout exceed- ed that of blacks in most of the West.

By contrast with blacks, Latinos and Asian-Americans continue to vote in much smaller numbers than their growing populations would allow.

Just more than 11 million Latinos voted in 2012, an increase of 1.4 million from 2008. But the number of Latinos who did not vote even though they were eligible grew faster, so the turnout rate fell slightly, to 48 percent. The same pattern held true for Asian-Americans — an increase in the overall numbers, but a slight drop in turnout, to 47.3 percent.

The one part of the country where Latino voter turnout most closely approached that of whites was in the south-Atlantic states. That appears to have been driven in large part by relatively high Latino turnout in Florida, census figures indicate.

The census bases its estimates on a large survey it conducts in November after each election. The figures are considered the most reliable data on who shows up to vote in U.S. elections.

Although the number of minority voters continued to rise in 2012, another big segment of the Obama coalition — young voters — declined.