They say that Demographics are Destiny. It looks like for Virginia’s Republicans, Demographics are Daunting.
In 1970, Virginia’s population was 80.8% White and 18.6% Black. Other races were negligible: about half of one percent total. (See page 125)
By 2018, according to the Census Bureau’s current estimates, the state’s population of Black residents stayed about the same, at 19.9%. But the population of White non-Hispanic residents is now only 61.5%. The rest is now mostly Hispanic and Asian. The Hispanic population roughly doubled from 2000 to 2010 alone. The percentage of foreign born residents is in the double digits.
Survey after survey shows that immigrants are disproportionately big-government liberals. As one overview of the data concluded, “solid and persistent majorities of Hispanic and Asian immigrants and their children share the policy preferences of the modern American Left.” As a result, as University of Maryland political scientist James Gimpel has demonstrated, in the nation’s largest counties (which are where immigrants tend to settle), “Republicans have lost 0.58 percentage points in presidential elections for every one percentage-point increase in the size of the local immigrant population.”
There are many trends converging here. Not all the voting patterns are due to the racial makeup of the state. But many of these races are close. For instance it looks like the Kentucky governor race will be decided by a margin of about 1,000 votes. Doubling Virginia’s Hispanic population in only 10 years made a difference.
This giant wave of immigration was not inevitable. It was the result of policy choices made by the federal government, including failing to build a border wall, lax border enforcement, amnesty, failure to deport illegal aliens, and alterations to legal immigration law.
Republicans could respond by backing the creation of a border wall, deporting illegal immigrants, and reforming the “anchor baby” policy. But they are not. At best they are split on the topic. At worst they actively oppose it.
It is worth asking why they are acting against their own party’s interests.
They say that Demographics are Destiny. It looks like for Virginia’s Republicans, Demographics are Daunting.
In 1970, Virginia’s population was 80.8% White and 18.6% Black. Other races were negligible: about half of one percent total. (See page 125)
By 2018, according to the Census Bureau’s current estimates, the state’s population of Black residents stayed about the same, at 19.9%. But the population of White non-Hispanic residents is now only 61.5%. The rest is now mostly Hispanic and Asian. The Hispanic population roughly doubled from 2000 to 2010 alone. The percentage of foreign born residents is in the double digits.
From a 2018 National Review article:
There are many trends converging here. Not all the voting patterns are due to the racial makeup of the state. But many of these races are close. For instance it looks like the Kentucky governor race will be decided by a margin of about 1,000 votes. Doubling Virginia’s Hispanic population in only 10 years made a difference.
This giant wave of immigration was not inevitable. It was the result of policy choices made by the federal government, including failing to build a border wall, lax border enforcement, amnesty, failure to deport illegal aliens, and alterations to legal immigration law.
Republicans could respond by backing the creation of a border wall, deporting illegal immigrants, and reforming the “anchor baby” policy. But they are not. At best they are split on the topic. At worst they actively oppose it.
It is worth asking why they are acting against their own party’s interests.