What if…?
Let’s say you believe that the three groups that were most crucial for Obama were African Americans, Hispanics, and voters 18 to 29. Chuck Todd and the crew at MSNBC’s First Read think so.
Now NBC’s Ana Maria Arumi plays with the numbers and comes up with some what-ifs that are kind of interesting.
What if you eliminated from the voting pool all voters under the age of 30?
If you do that, McCain narrowly wins Indiana and North Carolina.
What if there were no Latinos voting?
McCain gets both New Mexico and Indiana.
What if no African Americans voted?
McCain would have taken Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In other words, that would have been enough to give us President-Elect McCain.
Of course, you could play the same game with other demographic groups: women, men, older white women, younger more affluent men, etc.
Interesting stuff.
