November 6, 2012, - 12:56 pm
“Blacks Not Motivated This Time Around”? Not EXACTLY; Black Turnout VERY High in Michigan
Yesterday, I told you Obama would win Michigan and laughed at the fake pollster/fraud-committing Hezbollah lawyer Tarek Baydoun’s absurd poll showing Mitt Romney winning Michigan. I stand by that even more so today. I’ve always doubted the claim by many on the right that “Blacks aren’t as motivated this time around” to vote. Really? That’s not what I saw in my mostly Black neighborhood. And it’s just not what I see, as I live in the midst of Black America. Most of my neighbors are Black, my Mayor is Black, and I live in a majority Black city. They are more motivated than ever. More than in 2008.
Reports I’ve gotten from all over Black areas of Michigan say turnout is higher than ever before. And it’s backed by video reports showing long lines and lines and lines of Black voters in Detroit and even in Macomb County, Michigan formerly known as “Reagan Country” who lined up on Friday and Monday to vote absentee and who lined up this morning.
This morning, I voted in my precinct in a largely Black neighborhood of a Detroit suburb. And the huge crowd at the polling place–I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was the first time in my 11 years of living here that I’ve ever had to wait in line to vote. I waited about 15 minutes, which isn’t bad, but I’ve never ever had to wait before. The turnout is huge, this time around. I was voter #286, which is about the number of people who usually vote in my precinct in an entire day of a Presidential election, and I was there at 10:30 a.m. I always go at the same time of the day to vote, thinking I will avoid the crowds. And while there is usually just a handful of people voting at this time, I saw about 100 Black people and four Whites voting in the four precincts that always have voting in a local public school gym. I didn’t see this many voters for the 2008 election. My poll worker told me there were long lines at 6:00 a.m. when she got there (and the polls don’t open in Michigan until 7:00 a.m.).
I also got reports from several other places, including West Bloomfield, Michigan, a largely White Detroit suburb, where friends told me they gave up after waiting in line for 20 minutes and that they were surprised at the number of Black voters who live in their precincts. A report from Detroit’s ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, showed long lines of Black people in mostly White Clinton Township (formerly “Reagan Country”), saying they’d been waiting to vote for two hours (the place ran out of ballots!). Black turnout here is high here, and I doubt it’s an exception to the rule around America. Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV/Local 4, reports that in largely Black Oak Park, Michigan (it also has a significant Orthodox Jewish population), voters at some precincts are waiting in line for THREE hours to vote today.
It betrays the myth that “Blacks aren’t so motivated this time around.” Believe me, they’re motivated, and we know they vote 90%-plus for Obama.
That said, we all know the conventional wisdom that the winner of Ohio takes all. And we know that Ohio has a lot of rural White voters who’ll likely go for Romney. And a lot of auto workers for whom the auto bailout–and Romney’s opposition to it–is more of a factor there than it is here in the Motor City. I doubt the Black vote in Ohio will be the deciding factor. And Romney may pull it out and win Ohio.
But I never ever believed the BS that Blacks aren’t as motivated to come out for Obama this time around. From what I’ve seen–on my own and in myriad video reports around Michigan–they are more motivated than ever.
Whoever counted them out doesn’t know Black America. It’s where I live.
Tags: Barack Obama, Black vote, Black voters, election day, enthusiasm gap
There is a lot at stake in this election and I think many people are motivated.
I’ve never had to wait where I currently live, until today. At 9:30, it was a 45 minute wait and getting longer. I witnessed only one person look at the line and decide to leave.
Road Warrior on November 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm