Presidential Election Demographics: From Carter to Obama (1976-2008)

Posted below are demographic breakdowns of every presidential election since 1976. For those of you who are not up-to-date on contemporary American political history, those elections were as follows:

1976 - Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Republican Gerald Ford (51-48)
1980 - Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter (51-41)
1984 - Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale (59-41)
1988 - Republican George H. W. Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis (54-46)
1992 - Democrat William Clinton defeated Republican George H. W. Bush (43-37)
1996 - Democrat William Clinton defeated Republican Robert Dole (49-41)
2000 - Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Albert Gore (48-48)
2004 - Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry (51-48)
2008 - Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain (53-46)

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, I consider the most recent stage in America's ideo-political history to have begun with Ronald Reagan's first election in 1980. I have also included data from the previous election, in 1976, for the purpose of providing contrast.

DEMOCRATS
2008: Whites - 43%, Blacks - 95%, Latinos - 67%, Jews - 78%, Men - 49%, Women - 56%, National - 53%
2004: Whites - 41%, Blacks - 88%, Latinos - 53%, Jews - 74%, Men - 44 %, Women - 51%, National - 48%
2000: Whites - 42%, Blacks - 90%, Latinos - 62%, Jews - 79%, Men - 43%, Women - 54%, National - 48%
1996: Whites - 43%, Blacks - 84%, Latinos - 72%, Jews - 78%, Men - 44%, Women - 55%, National - 49%
1992: Whites - 39 %, Blacks - 83%, Latinos - 61%, Jews - 80%, Men - 41%, Women - 45%, National - 43%
1988: Whites - 40%, Blacks - 89%, Latinos - 70%, Jews - 64%, Men - 42%, Women - 49%, National - 46%
1984: Whites - 34%, Blacks - 91%, Latinos - 66%, Jews - 67%, Men - 38%, Women - 42%, National - 41%
1980: Whites - 36%, Blacks - 83%, Latinos - 56%, Jews - 45%, Men - 38%, Women - 46%, National - 41%
1976: Whites - 48 %, Blacks - 83%, Latinos - 82%, Jews - 71%, Men - 52%, Women - 52%, National - 51%

REPUBLICAN
2008: Whites - 55%, Blacks - 4%, Latinos - 31%, Jews - 21%, Men - 48%, Women - 43%, National - 46%
2004: Whites - 58%, Blacks - 11%, Latinos - 44%, Jews - 25%, Men - 55%, Women - 48%, National - 51%
2000: Whites - 55%, Blacks - 9%, Latinos - 35%, Jews - 19%, Men - 54%, Women - 44%, National - 48%
1996: Whites - 46%, Blacks - 12%, Latinos - 21%, Jews - 16%, Men - 45%, Women - 38%, National - 41%
1992: Whites - 40%, Blacks - 10%, Latinos - 25%, Jews - 11%, Men - 38%, Women - 38%, National - 37%
1988: Whites - 60%, Blacks - 11%, Latinos - 30%, Jews - 35%, Men - 58%, Women - 51%, National - 54%
1984: Whites - 66%, Blacks - 9%, Latinos - 34%, Jews - 31%, Men - 62%, Women - 58%, National - 59%
1980: Whites - 56%, Blacks - 14%, Latinos - 37%, Jews - 39%, Men - 55%, Women - 47%, National - 51%
1976: Whites - 52%, Blacks - 17%, Latinos - 18%, Jews - 27%, Men - 48%, Women - 48%, National - 48%

Other Interesting Tidbits:

- The average percentage each group gave to the Democratic and Republican parties during the nine elections from 1976 to 2008 are:
Whites - Democrats, 41%; Republicans, 54%
Blacks - Democrats, 87%; Republicans, 11%
Latinos -Democrats, 65%; Republicans, 31%
Jews - Democrats, 71%; Republicans, 25%
Men - Democrats, 43%; Republicans, 51%
Women - Democrats, 50%; Republicans, 46%
National Average - Democrats, 47%; Republicans, 48%

- The candidates who "won" each of the aforementioned demographic groups (i.e., who received the highest percentage of popular votes among members of that group in a presidential election from 1976 to the present) are as follows:

Whites - Ronald Reagan, 1984 (66%)

   - Runners-up: George H. W. Bush, 1988 (60%), George W. Bush, 2004 (58%), Ronald Reagan, 1980 (56%)

Blacks - Barack Obama, 2008 (95%)

   - Runners-up: Walter Mondale, 1984 (91%), Albert Gore, 2000 (90%), Michael Dukakis, 1988 (89%)

Latinos - Jimmy Carter, 1976 (82%)

   - Runners-up: William Clinton, 1996 (72%), Michael Dukakis, 1988 (70%), Barack Obama, 2008 (67%)

Jews - William Clinton, 1992 (80%)

   - Runners-up: Albert Gore, 2000 (79%), Barack Obama, 2008 (78%), William Clinton, 1996 (78%)

Men - Ronald Reagan, 1984 (62%)

   - Runners-up: George H. W. Bush, 1988 (58%), George W. Bush, 2004 (55%), Ronald Reagan, 1980 (55%)

Women - Ronald Reagan, 1984 (58%)

   - Runners-up: Barack Obama, 2008 (56%), William Clinton, 1996 (55%), Albert Gore, 2000 (54%)