2 Graphs That Should Accompany Every Discussion of the GOP's Demographics Problem

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Here are the demographics of Obama and Romney voters:

Screen Shot 2012 11 08 at 3 05 16 PM

White voters accounted for 88% of Romney's support and 56% of Obama's. Their share of the country is declining by about 2 percentage points with every presidential election.

Latino, Black, and Asian voters accounted for 10% of Romney's support and 42% of Obama's. Their share of the country is growing by about 2 percentage points with every presidential election, with Latinos accounting for three-fifths of that growth.

That first graph was the GOP's present demographics problem. This, from Pew, is the future.

11-07-12-Population-Projections-01.png

In 1988, Michael Dukakis lost the white vote by 19 points and won 111 electoral votes. In 2012, Barack Obama lost the white vote by a worse margin -- 20 points -- and tripled Dukakis with 332 electoral votes. Country's changing.

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Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees business coverage for TheAtlantic.com. More

Thompson has written for Slate, BusinessWeek, and the Daily Beast. He has also appeared as a guest on radio and television networks, including NPR, the BBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.

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