The Emerging White-Nonwhite Divide in American Politics

"Thus a crucial variable before last November’s election was the racial composition of the electorate. As the Obama team predicted, the proportion of white voters fell to 72 percent. The president won by drawing eight in 10 black, Hispanic and Asian-American votes, even as Mitt Romney won six in 10 white votes." [Read more]

Judge Posner Sees Voter ID as Disenfranchising

“We weren’t really given strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disenfranchise people entitled to vote.”... In a new book, he writes that he was “guilty” of upholding a law “now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than of fraud prevention.” [Read more]

Republicans Block Millions of the Poor from Health Coverage

"A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

"Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years." [Read more]