Center for American Progress

RELEASE: New Analysis Explores Growing Influence of Women of Color in the Electorate
Press Release

RELEASE: New Analysis Explores Growing Influence of Women of Color in the Electorate

Read the full issue brief here.

Washington, D.C. — A new issue brief released today by the Center for American Progress explores the current role of women-of-color voters, a bloc that turned out in record numbers in the 2008 presidential election. The brief looks at the national demographic trends turning this emerging voting bloc into an increasingly powerful electoral player. This new political landscape points to a reality in which these voters will wield great influence in 2014 and beyond.

According to the analysis—including state-level data from select states where women of color are concentrated in the largest numbers—when energized, women of color participate at high rates that are even higher than those of their male counterparts and can affect electoral and policy outcomes.

“Women of color are the fastest-growing segment of America’s largest voting bloc: women,” said Maya L. Harris, author of the brief, CAP Senior Fellow and a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School. “Unleashing their full potential to participate in our democratic process requires understanding who they are, knowing those issues that are most important to them, and identifying how best to inspire them to participate regularly.”

The brief also explores the projected drop-off of women of color in the 2014 election and obstacles that exist to the full participation of women of color, such as transportation challenges, problems at the polling place, and their own illness or disability or that of a family member.

“Issues at the center of the lives of women of color rarely take center stage in the political arena, despite the fact that addressing those issues would benefit the nation as a whole,” said Harris.

Read the full issue brief here.

Related resources:

True South: Unleashing Democracy in the Black Belt 50 Years After Freedom Summer by Ben Jealous

Uncounted Votes: The Racially Discriminatory Effects of Provisional Ballots by Joshua Field, Charles Posner, and Anna Chu

#BlackWomenLead: Harnessing the Political Power of Black Women

To speak to this expert, please contact Tanya S. Arditi at [email protected] or 202.741.6258.

###