Nov 3, 2017

Here’s how much the African-American vote nosedived in 2016

Neal Rothschild, Chris Canipe

The United States saw a big decline in African-American voter turnout between 2012 and 2016, reaching its lowest point since 2000. Read on to see the change in minority voter turnout, state by state.

Data: Census Bureau; Chart: Chris Canipe / Axios

Why it matters: There's been so much discussion of the impact of unprecedented factors in the 2016 election — including Russian meddling in social media — that it's easy to forget more basic factors, like the steep drop in the African-American vote since Barack Obama's two elections as president.

Why it happened: A dip in enthusiasm without Obama on the ballot, as well as restrictive voter ID laws. Among the eight states that instituted strict voter ID laws since 2008, five of them saw immediate drops in minority voter turnout, including dramatic dips in Wisconsin, North Dakota and Georgia.

Data: Census Bureau, National Conference of State Legislatures; Chart: Chris Canipe / Axios

The impact: Between 2012 and 2016, African-Americans shifted from overrepresented to underrepresented among the voters who turned out, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of U.S. census data published in May.

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