For the first time ever, black, Hispanic and Asian residents of New York City outnumbered their white counterparts at the polls. In what the Times describes as "a seismic political shift," voters who identified themselves as minorities constituted 51 percent of the vote in November's citywide elections, compared to white voters who made up 46 percent of the total.
Though minority residents make up the majority of the city's population and the majority of its eligible voters, this is the first time they represented the majority at the voting booths, according to exit polls. While the percentage of white voters dipped below 50 for the first time, black voters made up 23 percent, Hispanic voters constituted 21 percent, and Asian voters tallied 7 percent. Those numbers might have helped minority candidate John Liu win the Comptroller race, but they weren't enough for minority candidate Bill Thompson to best Mayor Bloomberg (who spent $102 million to Thompson's $9 million).
"All the room for growth in the electorate is amongst Hispanic, Asian, biracial and black New Yorkers," said political consultant Bruce N. Gyory. "This polyglot electorate will demand the jigsaw-puzzle skills of coalition-building and diplomacy."
