The black vote share in Florida was 15 percent, which is 50 percent higher than in 1996, and exceeds the 13 percent black share overall of Florida's electorate. And though Gore lost Missouri, black turnout there was up dramatically. Blacks constituted just 5 percent of Missouri's voters in 1996, but this year, blacks were 12 percent of Missouri's voters, exceeding the 10 percent that blacks constitute of Missouri's electorate. It's true that George Bush barely registered with black voters, but it's nonetheless a voting bloc the GOP would do well not to ignore. And doing that, he said, demands a strategy that goes beyond just getting people out to vote.
Political education is needed to teach voters how to respond to the outcome.