Baby boom among '90s immigrants behind surge in Latino population

Houston Chronicle Oct 24, 08 6:50 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A Hispanic baby boom accounts for more than half of America's population growth over the last decade, the Houston Chronicle reports. A survey found 50.5% of the growth in that period was among Hispanics, even though the group currently makes up just 15% of the population. The growth is due more to births than immigration, the Pew Hispanic Center report found.
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Sarah Palin's candidacy shook up the race, but polls show female support in line with past elections

Chicago Tribune Oct 7, 08 6:43 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Sarah Palin’s novel influence on the presidential campaign appears to have waned, and the “gender gap” among voters has reverted to that in past elections, the Chicago Tribune reports. That means women favor Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain. Women will support Obama by a margin of between four and 11 percentage points on Election Day, predicts a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
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Economic factors put 20-somethings at risk, study finds

Newsweek Sep 23, 08 12:48 PM CDT
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US teenagers are having fewer abortions than ever before, but their adult counterparts can’t say the same, Newsweek reports. According to a new, nonpartisan study, teen abortions have fallen almost 30% over the past 30 years, as millions of dollars were pumped into sex-education programs. But women aged 20-29 have seen much smaller declines, and still see rates above 1974 levels.
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ANALYSIS
Shift of working white women to GOP spells trouble for Obama

Time Sep 10, 08 8:40 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Polls clearly show the white women's vote swinging away from Barack Obama and it's a particular group the candidate needs to worry about most, Karen Tumulty writes in Time . Soccer moms comprised the key swing group in 1996, and "security moms" did last election, Tumulty notes. This time, it's the "Wal-Mart moms"—or grandmas—who could win it, she adds.
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glossies

Newsweek Aug 31, 08 7:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Today’s twentysomething men are a bunch of “kidults” and “thresholders,” writes Tony Dokoupil in Newsweek , content to stretch the transition from adolescence to adulthood into a decade of dude-centric activities like drinking, skirt-chasing, and mastering fire (“I’ll grill that potato salad,” one buddy boasts). But underneath the beers and jeers lie one of the most isolated—and, for the first time, downwardly mobile—demographics.
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ANALYSIS
Phelps' record-breaking swim is highlight of network's bonanza

Variety Aug 20, 08 2:02 PM CDT
(Newser)
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NBC’s Olympic coverage smashed the competition last week, in what Variety suggests could be the most decisive rout in television history. Viewership was buoyed by Michael Phelps’ record-breaking gold-medal performance Saturday; in addition, NBC’s various networks reached a staggering 83% of the US. The margins were the biggest in Nielsen ratings history.
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2007 census reveals dramatic trend

USA Today Aug 7, 08 8:36 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The white population has declined in more than half of US counties, marking a dramatic shift in America's human landscape, reports USA Today. The data from the 2007 census, released today, reveals a continuing trend of immigration and growth within minority populations, coupled with slow or no growth among many white communities.
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Year-on-year declines highly uncommon

New York Times Aug 5, 08 7:19 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Disenchanted voters have left Republican Party enrollment in freefall since 2005, with more Americans registering either with the Democrats or no party at all. While changes in party membership are common, a sustained drop like that is remarkable, say psephologists. The shift might have little effect on this year's presidential race, but it bodes ill for GOP chances in state and local elections.
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Most doubt outcome of election will change their personal finances

Washington Post Aug 4, 08 10:22 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Low-income workers favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a whopping 2 to 1 margin, a new Washington Post poll shows, but they doubt that Obama or any other politician will improve their lives. Obama owes much of his edge to overwhelming support from black and Hispanic voters, but even among whites he holds a 47%-37% lead, contradicting the popular perception that he will struggle in that demographic.
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Shift could spark suburban slums, experts fear

New Republic Aug 3, 08 3:56 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Middle class Americans are moving back downtown, pushing out minority groups and reversing the 20th century trend of "white flight," Alan Ehrenhalt writes in the New Republic . Why the shift? Downtown areas are safer, industries have moved out, and rising fuel prices make suburban commutes less attractive. "Our own cities have been changing right in front of us," Ehrenhalt writes.
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Candidate shores up support as shift in demographics pushes home state into play

New York Times Jul 24, 08 7:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Al Gore's 2000 loss of Tennessee aside, normally a presidential candidate can expect to win his home state relatively easily. But this month John McCain, a full press retinue in tow, made a campaign stop in Arizona, shaking hands and encouraging volunteers to get out the vote. As the New York Times writes, Arizona's demographics are changing, and McCain's own campaign now lists the state he's served for more than 25 years as one of its battlegrounds.
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Big cities influx of whites as more blacks move to suburbs

Wall Street Journal Jul 19, 08 7:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
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White Americans are reversing a decades-old trend by moving back to big cities, the Wall Street Journal reports. In cities like Boston, Washington DC, Seattle and Atlanta, the white population is rising again as suburbanites flock to live in newly trendy city centers—and affluent African-Americans move to the suburbs. Eight of the 50 largest cities saw the proportion of whites increase between 2000 and 2006.
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Fertility is lower but larger population adds up to baby bumper crop

ABC News Jul 18, 08 4:46 AM CDT
(Newser)
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More Americans were born last year than in any other in history, reports ABC News. The 4,315,000 bundles of joy even top the Baby Boom at its peak. The expanding population is expected to put more pressure on scarce resources, but all those new taxpayers will help foot Medicare bills for the original Boomers, say experts.
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Overlooked bloc
could give Obama a hidden 2% boost

Salon Jul 14, 08 7:58 AM CDT
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Pollsters are setting themselves up for an embarrassment, Salon predicts, by using only landlines in surveys, ignoring the 15% of American adults who use only cellphones. That 15% is predominantly young, full of students, and disproportionately black and Hispanic. They are not, in other words, likely McCain voters. Add this uncounted bloc, and Obama’s lead could jump 2% or more, two veteran pollsters tell Salon.
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