Figure 1 Demographic by Race and Ethnicity, 1988 to 2008
The electorate in last year’s presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in U.S. history, with nearly one-in-four votes cast by non-whites, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center.1 The nation’s three biggest minority groups—blacks, Hispanics and Asians—each accounted for unprecedented shares of the presidential vote in 2008.
Overall, whites2 made up 76.3% of the record 131 million people3 who voted in November’s presidential election, while blacks made up 12.1%, Hispanics 7.4% and Asians 2.5%.4 The white share is the lowest ever, yet is still higher than the 65.8% white share of the total U.S. population (Pew Hispanic Center, 2009).
Figure 1  | Demographic Composition of Voters,  | Demographic by Race and Ethnicity, 1988 to 2008  | of voters)  | White  | Black  | Hispanic  | Asian  | 1.2  | 1.6  | 1.8  | 2.3  | 2.5  | 4.1  | 5.4  | 6.0  | 7.A  | 9.8  | 9.9  | 10.6  | 11.5  | 110  | 12.1  | 84.9  | 84.6  | 82.5  | 80.7  | 79.2  | 76.3  | 988  | 1992  | 1996  | 2000  | 2004  | 2008  | Note: Whites include only non-Hispanic whites. Blacks include only non-Hispanic  | blacks, Asians include only mon- -Hispanic Asians Native Americans and mixed-  | race groups not shown. Asian share not available prior to 1990,  | Source: Pew Research Center tabulations from the Current Population Survey,  | November Supplements data 