Census Shows Minorities' Role in Obama Victory

Increased turnout by minorities in last year's election helped Barack Obama take several swing states and advance in GOP strongholds, new data from the Census Bureau shows. Turnout was 64%, the same as the last presidential election—but a growing population means that 5 million more people voted in 2008 than 2004. Minorities account for almost the entire increase; 2 million more blacks, the same number of Hispanics, and 600,000 more Asians cast a ballot.

Minority voters helped Obama take Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, and Indiana, although he also won a majority of white votes in 19 states. And continuing demographic shifts—non-Hispanic whites will no longer be a majority by 2042—suggest that Republican failure to capture minority votes spells long-term trouble. "Democrats are getting the growing parts of the population: Young people, minorities and states people are moving to," one demographer tells the Wall Street Journal.