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Obama Inspires Black Voters To Join Democrats

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The Associated Press

Published: August 22, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Sen. Barack Obama isn't just inspiring black voters to register in large numbers as he gets closer to being the Democratic presidential nominee. Evidence indicates that he's motivating some black Republicans to switch parties.

The only three states that track voting registration by party and race show black Republican registration dropping slightly since the beginning of the year.

Florida has 81,512 more black Democrats compared with a loss of 784 black Republicans; Louisiana has 34,325 more black Democrats, while the number of black Republicans dropped by 907; North Carolina has 92,356 more black Democrats and 2,850 fewer black Republicans.

While the number of blacks who have left the GOP for the Democratic Party can't be pinpointed, it's not hard to find voters who have switched.

"That's happening in a lot of places," said Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who tracks racial trends.

In Florida, it's happening at a time when the state Republican Party has made black voter recruitment a priority, one that is more difficult with Obama's success.

Whitfield Jenkins of Ocala became a Republican nearly four decades ago, abandoning the Democrats when black voters helped elect a state lawmaker who later opposed a state holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2006, Jenkins helped Republican Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign, but this year he switched back to the Democratic Party for one reason: Obama.

"Really early in his presidential campaign, when I got the opportunity to listen intently to his ideas and his platforms ... I joined the effort and it became clear to me that I was better able to work in my community in a broad way and support this outstanding candidate as a Democrat," Jenkins said.

Florida has nearly 1.1 million black Democrats, compared with just less than 64,000 black Republicans. Louisiana has about 704,000 black Democrats and 26,000 black Republicans, and North Carolina has more than 1 million black Democrats and about 44,000 black Republicans.

Three other states - Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina - track voter registration by race, but voters don't register with parties. Each has seen large increases in black registration during recent seven-month periods, Georgia by almost 123,000, South Carolina by 43,198 and Alabama by 20,844.

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