Will the 2016 election come down to black women?

For black women, history shows that they are a powerful and driving voting bloc.

Nov 7, 2016

Millions of Americans have already voted early in this election, but data from that early voting is showing a low turnout for African-American voters in several states, including some key swing states, generating worries that the election will be closer than anticipated.

“There’s definitely some skittishness as to whether there’ll be the same level of excitement among African-American as there was for Obama,” said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University and a fellow with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank.

–Black America needs to vote because Donald Trump will destroy us–

However, for black women, history shows that they are a powerful and driving voting bloc. A national survey for the Joint Center showed that 90 percent of black women said that they would be voting this year. What’s more, the survey found that many African-Americans consider this election to be crucial.

“We found that an overwhelming majority of black men and women indicated that they saw the 2016 race as a high-stakes election,” said Gillespie, a co-author of the report. “And when it came to age and voting patterns, there was a correlation. Younger cohorts were less committed to voting.”

With Election Day tomorrow, the final results remain to be seen. In the meantime, we can only say this: get out the vote!