Krissah Thompson and Nia-Malika Henderson report that black Democrats are showing high levels of enthusiasm heading into the midterms:
A major survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University found that 80 percent of black Democrats are as interested or more interested in the midterms than they were in the 2008 presidential election, when their enthusiasm helped propel Barack Obama into office.
This year, 62 percent of all black Democrats say they're likely to encourage others to support certain candidates, according to the survey, compared with 47 percent of white Democrats and 57 percent of all Republicans.
It probably won't be enough to stem the Republican tide this November, but it's certainly unusual. As Jamelle has pointed out previously, black voters tend to vote in lower numbers in midterm elections.
The increased civic participation of black voters is a great sign -- the more eligible voters casting ballots the better -- although I suspect this has something to do with the frequency and intensity of racially tinged attacks on the president. Black folks are more likely to vote for and approve of Democratic presidents regardless of race -- Obama upped black turnout in 2008, but previous Democratic nominees garnered more than 90 percent of the black vote. I think a lot of people feel that the president is facing a familiar kind of professional double standard, where his accomplishments are downplayed and his mistakes are amplified. Anytime a community feels under siege, they're going to band together -- and when conservatives attack the president in racial terms, they're not really just attacking the president.
Anyway, it's also good news for the Democrats in the long term. It suggests that black enthusiasm is sustainable, which bodes well for them in 2012, when Obama will be back on the ballot and the electorate will likely be less conservative.
