Engaging the Emerging Majority: The Case for Voter Registration in 2012 and Beyond
The Emerging Majority – Latinos, African-Americans, American Indians, Asian-American/Pacific Islanders, unmarried women – has the potential to reshape our country. But even as their population grows, Emerging Majority citizens lag far behind the general public in voter registration rates. Each year, communities with the most at stake go into Election Day at a tremendous deficit before a single vote is cast.
We're unveiling a new research report, Engaging the Emerging Majority: The Case for Voter Registration in 2012 and Beyond (download the full report here). The report analyzes Census data and assesses the actions needed to bring the numbers in line for 2012 and beyond. The report argues that significant, consistent investment in non-partisan voter registration year-to-year and cycle-to-cycle is one of the most effective ways to address the persistent under-registration and underrepresentation of the Emerging Majority.
A few key findings:
- In 2018, the Emerging Majority will comprise a majority of the citizen voting age population.
- There are 38 million eligible Emerging Majority citizens who are not currently registered.
- The Emerging Majority constituted 44% of the citizen voting age population of the United States in 2010, but only 40% of registered voters. To close this gap for 2012, we need to register at least 9.8 million Emerging Majority voters.
- 59% of Emerging Majority voters were registered to vote in 2010, as compared to 70% of the remaining population.
- The Emerging Majority is younger than the rest of the population: 29% of the Emerging Majority is between the ages of 18 and 29 compared to only 16% of the rest of the population. What's more, 59% of all citizens between ages 18 and 29 are members of the Emerging Majority.
- A first step to correct this imbalance is to increase investment of human and financial resources in voter registration efforts to close the registration equality gap, ensuring that the Emerging Majority is registered equal to its proportion of the population. As we begin to close the gap state by state, we should strive for full registration, raising the bar for all Americans.