Obama’s big advantage: The non-white vote

theGRIO REPORT - A new CNN/ORC poll illustrates the stronghold President Obama has over the quarter of the electorate that is composed of minority voters: he leads among non-whites 88 percent to 11 percent...

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A new CNN/ORC poll illustrates the stronghold President Obama has over the quarter of the electorate that is composed of minority voters: he leads among non-whites 88 percent to 11 percent.

That showing is even stronger than the approximately 80 percent of the minority vote Obama received in 2008. While the poll did not break down voters by race, Obama has been getting more than 90 percent of the black vote and more than 70 percent of the Latino vote many surveys.

This disparity severely complicates Mitt Romney’s strategy for winning. About a quarter of the voters in Florida and Virginia, two of the most important swing states in the election, are projected to be minorities.

Here’s what else we are seeing in the new polls since the Democratic National Convention, all of which have shown the president ahead of Romney.

1. Michelle Obama is very popular. The CNN survey showed 68 percent of voters have a favorable view of the First Lady, compared to 57 percent who feel that way about her husband. Fifty-five percent have a favorable view of Ann Romney, while Mitt Romney has the lowest ratings of the four, at 47 percent.

2. The general outlines of the electorate remain the same, but Obama is gaining ground among essentially every group. Obama’s support among non-white voters is up slightly, as it is among white voters and men, two groups who lean toward Republicans.

3. Paul Ryan has done little to change the dynamics of the election. Despite his controversial Medicare idea, voters over 65 still favor the Romney-Ryan ticket. At the same time, Romney had almost 100 percent support among Tea Party Republicans before Ryan was picked, so he hasn’t added many votes to the ticket.

Follow Perry on Twitter @perrybaconjr

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