William Bennett writes that President Obama won the 2012 election by winning 93% of the African-American vote and 71% of Latino votes, while Mitt Romney won white voters 59% to 39%, according to exit polls. If the GOP believe they lost the election because of race, they are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. The key to their loss is that Obama won 60% to 38% among those who make less than $50,000 a year and among 18- to 29-year-olds he won 60% to 37%.
Capitalism is failing these two sectors of the population: low income earners and the youth. Poverty rates are highest among Black and Hispanic voters but young voters are also becoming disaffected, with almost half recent college graduates unemployed or under-employed. The seriousness of the situation is illustrated by the following statistic:
According to a Pew Research poll taken last year, 49% of Americans age 18-29 have a positive view of socialism while just 46% have a positive view of capitalism.
Mitt Romney might have sold his message to the middle-class and small business owners but he alienated the very people who suffered most from the economic downturn. He failed to define his campaign as a war against poverty and unemployment. Instead of looking the disaffected in the eye and telling them what he could do to get them a job, he spent his time preaching to the choir.