Figure 1 Voter Turnout Rates in Presidential Elections, 1988- 2012 Asians
For the first time ever, the black voter turnout rate in a presidential election exceeded the white voter turnout rate—66.2% versus 64.1%. While the presence of Barack Obama on the ballot in 2008 and 2012 no doubt contributed to the narrowing and reversal of what had been a longstanding black-white turnout gap, the rise in the black turnout rate pre-dates his candidacies, as the chart to the right illustrates.
Hispanics continue to punch below their weight. Much was made right after the November election about the clout of the Hispanic vote (by, among others, the Pew Research Center). But the new Census Bureau data show that Hispanics’ turnout rate—just 48%—was far below that of whites (64.1%) or blacks (66.2%). It also fell nearly two percentage points below the Hispanic turnout rate in 2008, which was 49.9%. Because of population growth, the number of Latinos who voted for president increased by about 1.4 million from 2008 to 2012, to a record 11.2 million, but the number of Latinos who were eligible but chose not to vote increased even more—by 2.3 million—from 9.8 million in 2008 to 12.1 million in 2012.
Figure 1  | Voter Turnout Rates in Presidential Elections,  | 1988- 2012  | (%)  | Whites  | Blacks  | Hispanics  | Asians  | 80  | 70  | 66.2  | 66 1  | 65 2  | 64 1  | 60  | 49 9  | 48 0  | 50  | 47.3  | 47.0  | 40  | 2000  | 1988  | 1992  | 1996  | 2004  | 2008  | 2012  | Notes: Hispanics are ofany -Hisp race For the years 1988 through 2008, whites blacks  | Notes: and Hispanics Asians Hispanics include are only ofany non Hispanic -Hisp race anics For the For2012, years 1988 availa blacks through ble and Asians 2008, 1988, include whites  | Hispanics Data for non- Hispanic -Hisp Asians For2012, were not availa ble in 1988,  | Source: For 1988 through 2008, Pew Hispanic Center ta bulations ofthe Current  | Population Survey through November Supplements For 2012, U.S. Census Bureau  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 