Republicans Don't Have A Gender Problem, They Have A Race Problem

Mark Perry takes a look at some of the demographic breakdowns from the 2012 presidential election and finds some interesting results. Despite the “war on women” narrative, Romney actually beat Obama among white women by 16 points.

The problem is that, overall, Romney lost women by 11 points.

The take-away from these numbers is that Romney’s problem, and perhaps the problem all Republicans have nationally, isn’t a gender problem. It’s a race problem. Romney had the white vote sewn up, from both men and women. What he didn’t have was majority support from any other racial demographic.

Conservatives often laugh off the incessant drumbeat of “racism” coming from the left, especially when some of those accusations reach the altitudes of the absurd. Much like with global warming, it often seems as though there is nothing the left can’t blame on racism.

But as silly as those accusations may seem to conservatives, they seem to be working. Democrats are doing a very good job, nationally, of portraying Republicans as uncaring plutocrats intent on keeping non-whites down.

The question for conservatives is how do we prove that claim untrue? And not only that, how do we show that free markets and limited government is what’s best for everyone regardless of skin color?

That’s a tough row to hoe. Conservatism works with people who want to free and self-reliant. I sometimes wonder if that accurately describes most Americans today. Which isn’t to say that most Americans are lay-abouts looking for handouts. Just that most Americans have bought in, heavily, to the idea that government and not individual achievement drives national prosperity.