Playing the Percentages

I’ve been thinking a lot about how this diverse nation of ours can survive the polarization that seems to be gripping us. And while President Trump is clearly the polarizer-in-chief, we all seem to be taking part in some way or another. For every person posting Black Lives Matter on social media there is someone else posting, I support the police … share if you agree. But I digress, I don’t want to talk politics, I want to talk percentages, although certainly these numbers relate to politics. I just found these interesting when presented together.   I’ve included references and for the most part chosen sources with no political axe to grind:

• The population of the United States is about 62% white and 38% minority.   Hispanics make up about 17% of the population and African Americans 12.6% (reference).
• 37% of registered voters are Republican and 44% are Democrats.   About 70% of Republicans identify as conservative while 50% of Democrats identify as liberal.   Overall, among all registered voters, 37% are conservative and 24% are liberal.  About 67% of Black voters are Democrats compared to 6% who are Republican. But in 2019, 43% of Black Democrats called themselves moderate, 29% called themselves liberal and 25% called themselves conservative. This means that about 68% of black voters reject the label of liberal (reference).
• Between 50% and 60% of white and Black registered voters voted in the last two elections.  Other minorities turned out at about a 40% rate.  In the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton received 48% of the popular vote and Donald Trump received 46% of the popular vote (reference).  Republican validated voters reported choosing Trump by a margin of 92% to 4%, while Democrats supported Clinton by 94% to 5%.  Women favored Clinton 54% to 39% and made up 45% of voters.  Black and Hispanic voters overwhelmingly favored Clinton (91% to 6% and 66% to 28% respectively). (reference).
• In the United States, over 90% of citizens profess belief in a Higher Power.  70% of citizens are Christian with 25% evangelical protestants and 21% Catholics.  All other religions make up about 6%, with agnostics and atheists making up about 7%. (reference) White Christians overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016: evangelicals 77% to 16%, mainline protestants 66% to 39% and Catholics 52% to 44%. (reference).  Nearly 66% of white Christians say that killing of Black men by police are isolated incidents, not part of a broader pattern (reference)
• About 12% of Americans fall below the poverty line.   Almost 20% of African Americans and 18% of Hispanics fall below it (reference).    There are 11.8 million millionaire households which is 3% of the US population.  The average age of US millionaires is 62.  Only about 20% of Americans inherit their riches, the rest of them, 80%, are self-made first-generation millionaires.  76% of US millionaires are white, 8% are Black and 8% are Asian.  A report by Boston Consulting Group stated that by 2021, 70% of US’s wealth will be controlled by millionaires and billionaires (reference).

The percentages have stories to tell if you let them speak.  If you play them through your own confirmation bias, you’ll get the same story you already tell yourself.   Of course, if you just hate statistics or want someone to think for you, you probably didn’t get this far.

 

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Tags: perspectives, political parties, statistics, US income, US population, US religion, voting

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