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Whites a California minority, but a voting majority

August 4th, 2009, 1:05 pm · 54 Comments · posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

White non-Hispanics in California have lost their majority status over the past 30 years (now 43 percent of all residents) but continue to account for the majority of voters (65 percent), according to a report just out from The Field Poll.

Latinos now account for 37 percent of the population but just 21 percent of registered voters here. Asians comprise 14 percent of the population and 8 percent of voters. Blacks are 6 percent of both the population and the voter rolls.

These traditional minorities are a big reason that Democrats dominate the state. White non-Hispanics make up 79 percent of Republicans, but just 55 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of non-partisans.

And while you might not know it from the people they put in office, the California electorate is now older, better educated and includes more homeowners and a smaller proportion of Protestants than 30 years ago.

* 68 percent of voters are 40 or older (58 percent in 1978).
* 46 percent are college graduates (36 percent in 1978).
* 74 percent are homeowners (66 percent in 1978).
* 38 percent are Protestants (50 percent in 1978).

Poll results. Check back for more charts.

Click here for more charts. Source: Field Poll estimates. Graphic/Molly Zisk

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Posted in: Elections officePolls
 
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 54 Comments

  • mensarino says:

    This is why the republicans will increasingly have difficulty in winning state-wide offices in the future.

    • OC4truth says:

      Well if you look at the comparative #s from 78 to 2009 Republicans only lost 3.2% while Dems lost 12.2%. Both major parties are in the minority so you could also say this is why the Dems will increasingly have difficulty winning state-wide elections. I bet these #s were calculated before the budget fiasco also and the special election where the pols lost. So with increasing disguist over some of the Dems policies things may be changing.

      So there are several ways that you can spin the #s and we really don’t know how it will turn out in actual elections. The big winner as far as increase is non-partisan or decline to state. So they will likely be deciding factors in elections as well as how many from any party actually vote for a candidate from another party.

  • BJO says:

    It would be interesting to know why people are affiliated with the specific parties, as well as an indication of what issue is most important to them.

  • 12tawk says:

    if we’re minorities are we going to start getting some perks and special treatment??

    • homer92630 says:

      Don’t hold your breath 12tawk.

      The system isn’t set up that way.

    • OldSki says:

      Dream on, 12tawk. Never happen as long as we’re a “plurality” and can be blamed for everything. If all were treated the same, I wouldn’t care. I just like people who follow the rules, work, and pay their fair share of the burden, while looking out for each other.

  • Rico says:

    mensarino- The republicans won’t have a problem with the voters as long as the democrats continue to spend all our money and ask us to take tax increases. Being democrat does not make a person liberal and not all democrats support what their party did to our state recently. The recent NO vote on taxes should have sent a message. Think they got it?

    • OldSki says:

      Hopefully everyone got the message: don’t pay? can’t play? Don’t feed the cow? No milk ! We’ll know the message got through to the voters when Barbara Boxer is put out to pasture. Speaking of cows, wow ! Feinstein may even get the message if Bay Area Babs is turned-out.

  • Halo34 says:

    nah, if the white’s get special treatment that would be racist! lol. I just wish I can move outta here!

  • muffdvr says:

    12tawk:
    Isn’t that somewhat of a Racist remark?
    I dunno either, but I do know that Whities are the only race that can be racist, even though we’re a minority now.

    • popcorn says:

      Thats funny. Spoken like a truly indoctrinated leftist.

    • grandma102 says:

      Well as part of the new minority, I want my RIGHTS!
      Yes ma’am, I want POINTS for being in the minority when I apply for a job.
      I want kids and grandkids to get extra POINTS when they apply to a college.
      I want to be able to harrass the police if they write me a ticket for anything.
      What else… guess we’ve got to study the minority rights book.
      Just everybody else back off… we’re here and we’re going to make noise.
      National Assn of White People.
      Rights for Whites
      ha ha ha get ready!

  • BS says:

    This is why the state is in decline: Gov rep for the minority mostly in the cities are bleeding heart Libs and give hand-out, in order for votes. All the free-bees has run dry and the hard working taxpayers get a screwing!

  • mensarino says:

    Rico—-Not unless the republicans make peace with the Hispanics.Hispanics in Ca. currently vote better than 2 to 1 democratic due to the perceived anti-Hispanic persona of the republican party.It’s all a numbers game and the demographics aren’t trending in the repubs favor.

    • grandma102 says:

      I don’t think the Republican agenda suits the Hispanics. Where do you think welfare is heaviest? Now do Republicans support their agenda. Don’t think so.

  • Freaking White & Proud says:

    I’m white proud and want all the freaking minority benefits the Hispanics, Asians,etc have been getting. I’d like a 1% business loan, I want job preferential, I want all the grants and free loans I’ve been missing out on, I’d like special services set up for me and I’d like to demand English only because I’m offended that I cannot communicate with the Hispanics and Asians at work, the grocery store, schools, etc. My stress level is going up because I cannot understand what they’re saying so I’m going to have to get free medical treatment, sie at home on my rear end for years on end and get paid for it (and tax free at that), oh and don’t forget my food stamps. These people didn’t even realize while they were having their 15 kids on welfare that they were putting their minority status in jeopardy-guess what the gravy train is stopping so get ready to start earning your freaking money and paying taxes. Or else leave and don’t come back!

    • TD says:

      Freaking White and Proud, you shouldn’t be so proud considering you spout off a littany of urban myths (like 1 percent business loans). Doesn’t make me too proud of you.

      But here’s how you can live like a minority. I expect to see you mowing other people’s lawns, being a nanny for other people’s kids, working at the local motel cleaning sheets and scrubbing toilets, picking lettuce, living in tenement housing and cleaning the dishes off my table at the restaurant.

      • G says:

        I’m white and 56. When I was a teenager I mowed lawns, was a busboy in a restaurant, washed dishes, cleaned toilets, cleared foliage in lots (25 cents an hour), worked construction, hung insulation at a meat packing plant and threw newspapers. Started when I was 12 and haven’t stopped working since - and I was in the majority.

        My four kids HAVE NOTand will not be able to get these jobs because illegals do them now.

        Employers use the illegals because they are cheap, can be cheated, and can be fired ‘before they hit the ground’ in construction.

        The fed, states, and local government should all be after illegals so our teens and young adults can do the work we ‘don’t want to do.’ It would be a great help to the economy to employ legal teens rather than illegals aliens.

        Freaking White and Proud make have some specifics incorrect but the amount of resources going to the illegals is a huge burden on the citizens of our states. The facts support the gist of what he says. All of the benefits and resources going to illegals are not a urban myth.

  • Steve says:

    amazing that so many people are still obsessed with race. who cares, we are all humans.

  • nomogroves says:

    I guess Black Flag was right. (FYI-This song was an attack on white supremacy)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVZaZ4o6_4

  • Warren says:

    Mexicans don’t vote. Two Asian political candidates won their seats in primarily Latino communitites. While Latinos make up the majority in the minority communties they don’t have the politicial power.

    “Judy Chu won the 32nd Congressional District. The 32nd Congressional District, a primarily Latino community that encompasses a swath of the San Gabriel Valley stretching from El Sereno to Covina.”

    “Janet Nguyen won the First District in the County of Orange. The First District includes the Cities of Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster, and Midway City.”

    • Mexifornian says:

      Judy won on the pretense that she would hold true to her word and support legislation that would give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. Latinos are going to hold her to that and to other issues such as healthcare and economics issues (jobs) that are of concern to the 32nd congressional district. She told an audience of (350) at LA Politicos Candidates Forum on March 19, 2009 at the Los Angeles River Center & Garden that she would do so. If not she will be gone in 2 years. We shall see.

      Judy Chu has always been there when the Latino community needed her. I trust she will continue to do so.

      10 1/2 million Latinos voted in the last Presdiential election. That was enough to send John McCain/Sarah Palin and the republican party packing. Gracias Pedro Wilson.

      What have we received for this so far: 99% certain a Supreme Court Justice, and hopefully immigration reform sooner rather than later.

      I love you America.

  • Major Variola (ret) says:

    When the colored conservatives (negroes, mexicans and south)
    stop voting next election, gay marriage will pass. No Obama,
    no discrimination. How ironic.

  • Bobby Jimmy says:

    Of course the voting majority is white, because they are LEGAL registered voters. Duh.

  • Pied Piper says:

    One home at a time… “-)

  • Mexifornian says:

    Thank you Rosario Dawson, George Lopez, LULAC, NiLP, MALDEF and all the others that instilled in Latinos the importance of El Voto Latino!

    Gracias President Obama for nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Next up immigration reform. Judy Chu will play an important role in immigration reform.

    10,500,000 votes. Now that’s power!

  • teresa says:

    Dream on Mexi Its not going to happen any time soon.

  • Rico says:

    I think the hispanic membership in the republican party will continue to grow as hispanics own more businesses. Regardless, the liberal ideology is doomed at least for now. No more tax and handout.

  • Windfall says:

    Hispanics, as a group, do not vote Democratic because of a “perceived anti-Hispanic persona of the Republican Party. It’s simply a matter of most Hispanics wanting to have babies that they don’t have to pay for and the Democrats have set it up so they can do just that. Hispanics vote Democratic by a two-to-one ratio because the Democrats offer them something for nothing and they are unprincipled enough to take it.

    These Hispanics loathe Republicans because Republicans believe in freedom, opportunity and taking responsibility for one’s own actions, family and destiny. For most Hispanics to do that they would have to give up their free Ob-Gyn, pre- and post-natal services, their free emergency room “insurance”, their rent subsidies, their utility subsides, their free school lunches, their food stamps, their free education, their tax-payer subsidized bus transportation and their preferential treatment in terms of both placement and advancement in set-aside rackets such as police and fire department jobs.

    The approximately one-third of Hispanics that vote Republican believe in freedom, opportunity and taking responsibility for one’s own financial support, actions, family and destiny. They have the integrity to make it on their own and they want to preserve the free enterprise system so that others can have the opportunity to make it on their own. For this, like Black Republicans, they take a ration of abuse and are called sell-outs and worse.

    As a group, the people in this country that I admire the most are the Hispanic and Black Republicans and Libertarians because they regularly and willingly take the most heat of any of us that chose to take a stand for liberty.

  • fcprop says:

    Bottomline voting is a joke anymore, the most popular candidate on MTV wins. Most people don’t even know why they voted for Obama (trust me I wasn’t a fan of Mccain either). The future can’t be based on the way that one ethnic group votes, what a joke!!

  • OC4truth says:

    The 2 groups that are largely native born Americans, Whites and Blacks have voting percentages similar to their #s. Latinos and Asians have lower percentages. I would guess that in part this would be due to the fact that the 2 latter groups have a higher percentage of immigrants who may not be citizens–at least not yet.

    Of course among Latinos especially there are high #s of undocumented immigrants. Hopefully none of the immigrants who are not citizens are voting although with all the hysteria that seems to attend reasonable proposals to require proof of citizenship to vote, we really don’t know how many who are not citizens may be voting.

    And then there may be more apathy or other reasons that people don’t vote in some communities than others.

    Actually conservatives should be able to attract Latino voters who tend to be very family oriented and pro-family. Of course a lot depends on perception rather than substance. Unfortunately Dems seem to give off the perception that they are pro-latino when in fact many of their policies are counter to the values of many Latinos.

  • Longcat says:

    I’m white and my wife is hispanic. My wife is turning into a republican although she will NEVER admit it. haha

  • lwps says:

    Is this the OCRegister, or some racist hate group newsletter? I can’t tell anymore.

  • InGodWeTrust says:

    Yeah right

  • audiman says:

    Who cares about race, seriously, its 2009 get over it with all this hate but for you that care check out all the white women getting with mexican and black men, you cant doubt that

  • ocsleeper says:

    I never understand why people claim that whites are no longer the majority. If whites aren’t the majority then who exactly is? Aren’t there more whites in this state compared to other minority groups? Why combine all minority group as one and use that to say whites are the minority? Since when do Asians, latinos or any other minority groups are so much a like where they constitute being labled as one as compared to whites?

    • InGodWeTrust says:

      It cracks me up though they want to end they race war but they continue to always include race. BTW- they’re probably including illegal immigrants.

  • Lion heart says:

    The problem with race is we keep getting it shoved down our throat by the media and comucrats. Race wouldn’t be an issue if government didn’t politicize with ridiculous policies. If we all lived under the same rules racism would erode away to nothing. In the 80’s we were pretty close to being a colorblind society but as far as I’m concerned we’re as far away as we have been since segregation. I challenge any democrat to explain to me why putting race, gender, or sexual preference ahead of being Americans. The truth is that democrats don’t or never did want equality. They believe that minorities aren’t smart enough to do anything on their own so they throw them a few bread crumbs for their vote. When people realize that they are being used and stand up for liberty and individual freedom we’ll all be better off. I don’t think we had an immigration problem until we became a welfare state and I don’t think we would have one if we eliminated the welfare state. This would mean that people coming over the boarder would truly be out to make a better life for their family which last time I checked, used to be the American dream

    • TD says:

      And why do people come over the border (not boarder) now? For food stamps? So they can stand in line in the hot sun at Home Depot and wave their arms for the fun of it.

      Get a clue. They come over for the exact reason you just said, for a better life. Don’t believe me? Why don’t you go ask some of them.

  • mensarino says:

    Lion Heart—-You are too busy playing partisan politics to be reasoned with.Things were nearly color blind in the eighties?Are you serious? I would bet my bottom dollar that you are white,no wonder you long for the good old days.
    Stop being an ideologue long enough to see the real world.

  • Marley says:

    Deport illegals, even out the playing field.

  • Lion heart says:

    I am white but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. Once again, you see color while I just want everybody to be held to the same standard. I don’t have a lot of faith in either party. Please educate me on what I’m missing and where having the same laws for everybody is a bad thing. Do I think we have a right to be sovereign nation, yes. Do I think that government policies create a lot of the problems we have today, yes I do. Please explain to me why TJ which is right on the boarder of SD is a trash can and SD is a beautiful town. Mexicans need to hold their own government accountable because they have the same resources that we have in California. I believe in the principles that this country was founded on. We no longer have limited self government, they now meddle in and ruin everything. Government should be there to defend our liberty, not steal it

  • mensarino says:

    What your being white has to do with this is that YOU said the 80’s were nearly color-blind.No person of color would say that.
    Having the same laws for everyone would be a very good thing if employers would treat everyone the same.Affirmative action programs were and are needed because many employers,unions etc. have historically refused to give minorities an equal chance.Hopefully,one day soon, we will no longer need these programs.If you contend we are already there,that we have arrived and no longer need these programs,then that is another reason how I know you are right.

    Folks who,by birth, have been given the front row seats of privilege in a society rarely see the inequity all around them.

    • Lion heart says:

      I believe that as long as there are different laws for different people we’ll never get there. The fact that you assume white people are handed everything tells me that you have a chip on your shoulder. Tell me how we can get closer to being color blind when there are fire fighters who don’t get promoted because of their race. Sorry my friend, I grew up in poverty so you can try the white guilt thing on somebody else.

    • InGodWeTrust says:

      I call BS! I don’t care what color you are you better be prepared to work hard in life. White people get nothing handed to them they have to work their butts off to get what they deserve and I haven’t ever known any white person getting anything for free. But on the other hand the rest of the races all get handouts.

  • mensarino says:

    oops,I said right and I meant white—–Freudian???

  • mensarino says:

    I have no chip on my shoulde,and I am white but I have strong concerns about the issue of fairness.

    • lionheart says:

      In a free society we will always have inequities. I would rather have a government that doesn’t try and referee every single aspect of our life in the name of fairness. As a people we were given a constitution to control govenment, we have let the founders down by letting government steel 50% of the countries wealth. Don’t tread on

  • asuperstar says:

    White flight.

  • OC curtain of ignorance says:

    Hispanic people are the new majority and if ignorant whites left orange county, you would see that your living in an outdated reality.

    • Lion heart says:

      What is that outdated reality? What is outdated about wanting to be left alone to pursue life, Liberty, and happiness. Freedom never grows old. Socialism has ruined countries for a hundred years and now we’ve decided to try it? All you have to do is look at the states that are liberal vs the states that are conservative to see what works. California, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey are all liberal states that are an absolute mess. Look at Texas, Louisiana, and any other southern state and they are well run. If this country wanted real positive change they would have supported Ron Paul

  • mADMAN says:

    TD…fuck off and get a clue.

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