A new Census report shows that the number of Hispanic and Asian-American voters increased in 2016, even as the number of black voters decreased.
The number of white voters also increased, but not enough to reverse an overall trend toward a more diverse electorate.
Overall, the turnout rate ticked down only slightly since 2012. Among those who did not vote, roughly twice as many said it was because they did not like the candidates or campaign issues as said the same four years ago. That increase was particularly large among blacks, who also turned out at lower rates than in 2008 or 2012.
The Census survey is considered one of the most reliable sources for estimated changes in turnout rates from year to year.
Trump’s victory came chiefly from older, white voters in key states that pushed his Electoral College vote total past the 270 required to win the White House. Clinton lost traditionally Democratic-leaning states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in part because black voters who had come out for President Barack Obama did not turn out in the same numbers for her.
Clinton has blamed now-fired FBI Director James Comey’s announcement about her emails on the election’s final weekend, Russian vote interference and her own “mistakes” for her loss.
According to the new Census numbers, the turnout rate among black voters returned to levels similar to 2004. More than a half million fewer black voters cast ballots compared with 2012. The percentage of blacks who did not vote because they did not like the candidates or the issues jumped from about 3 percent to about 20 percent — the biggest leap for any racial group, the Census numbers show.
Votes cast by Hispanics increased by about 1.5 million and slightly less than that by Asian-Americans. The number of white voters increased since 2012 by about 2.8 million, but they still represented a slightly smaller percentage of all voters than in the prior election.
