By Mary Mitchell
Sun-Times Columnist
Chicago Sun-Times
A recent survey by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies may have uncovered the Cosby Factor. You may recall that last summer, Bill Cosby went on a rant that made him look more like an angry old man than the beloved comedian he is. Indeed, when Cosby scolded irresponsible poor black parents for holding back the race, he sounded more like Rush Limbaugh than most of us wanted to admit.
But Cosby may just be showing his age.
According to the Joint Center's report, in 2004 -- for the first time in recent years -- younger African Americans became more Democratic and older African Americans became more Republican.
African-American voters between the ages of 19 to 25 who labeled themselves as Democrats increased from 54 percent to 71 percent, and from 56 to 63 percent among those ages 26 to 35. But older African Americans were less likely in 2004 to identify themselves as Democrats and more likely to identify as Republicans, the survey found.
Black seniors between the ages of 51 and 64 shifted from a 75 percent Democrat and 5 percent Republican split, to a 66 percent Democrat and 12 percent GOP split.
"Young African-American voters are just mirroring what they've seen from their parents," said Molly Andolina, an assistant professor of political science at DePaul University who focuses on youth civic engagement and public opinion.
"They are favoring the Democrats by these overwhelming margins because that is what we have seen African Americans do since 1962, when the Democratic Party was seen as promoting and protecting civil rights. Among black evangelical Protestants, they would be conflicted. There would be more comfort in the Republican Party on some of these moral issues and more comfort in the Democratic Party on some of the economic issues," she said.
"But the question ought to be, why are older black people leaving the Democratic fold?" she asked.
Comments