The polls have not opened in Virginia, but Democrats are already concerned about black voter turnout. The Hill reports:
Democrats are bracing for a precipitous drop in black voter turnout next month and beyond.
Alarms are being rung about just how many African-Americans will vote without President Barack Obama on the ballot, and the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races in three weeks will provide the first major test since the 2008 election.
A recent Washington Post survey estimated the black turnout in Virginia’s governor’s race at 12 percent, which would be about a 40 percent drop from last year’s general election. Other polling has shown both its and New Jersey’s black population unmoved about the off-year election.
The question at this point isn’t so much whether black voters will turn out at 2008 levels, but how big the drop will be — and then, whether it carries into the 2010 midterms.
A better question is why Democrats don’t sound the alarm when African Americans are not at the table when federal and state contracts are awarded? For instance, how many black-owned businesses have been included in the Fairfax County Parkway Extension, the largest stimulus-funded project in Virginia?
And how many African Americans have been put to work rebuilding the roads, interchanges and bridges in Virginia?
If Democrats don’t respect black Americans enough to ensure they have an equitable opportunity to share in the economic recovery, then they shouldn’t expect them to show up on Election Day.
