Despite efforts in some states to suppress the Black vote and predictions that African-Americans would not turn out at the rate they did in 2008, Blacks overcame all obstacles and were key to Obama’s re-election to a second term, an analysis of voting data shows.

Exit polls show that 93 percent of Blacks voted for Obama this year, down slightly from the 95 percent rate in 2008. But voting for all groups was down this year compared with the presidential election four years ago.

Obama carried every age bracket by at least 90 percent, but there was a gender gap among African-Americans, with 96 percent of Black women voting to re-elect the nation’s first Black president and only 87 percent of men supporting Obama. Four years ago, there was only a one-point difference separating the two groups, with women giving Obama 96 percent of their vote, compared with 95 percent for Black men.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney received only 6 percent of the Black vote, which was 2 percent higher than John McCain in 2008 but less than 11 percent achieved by George Bush in 2004 when he defeated John Kerry.

“The African American vote was crucial for President Obama in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia,” said David Bositis senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Read more at Black Voice News.

If Republicans and Democrats don’t reach a 12th hour deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” many lower-and middle-income families will feel deep pain, according to analysis by economists and respected think tanks.

The Budget Control Act, set to expire at the end of the year, will usher in draconian social spending and defense cuts along with tax hikes on all Americans if lawmakers can’t get a deal done. Much of the impact of such a decision –or non-decision – will come later in the year, some changes will be immediate.

“The most immediate one is the payroll tax,” said Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a fiscal policy and public program research group. “That’s going to come right out of your paycheck, your first is one going to change.”

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Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, an independent research group in Washington, D.C., said that uncertainty about the direction of the country’s economic policy is just as bad the specter of the fiscal cliff, because it becomes harder for businesses, domestic and abroad, and American families to plan for the future.

“You don’t know exactly where the shortfall will hit you,” said Leigh. “It’s going to show up in a lot little ways.”

Read more at the Greene County Democrat.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012,  the economy, unemployment, Big Bird, binders full of women and bayonets will take a backseat to the only poll that maters in electing a president and vice president – ballots cast in the polling booth.

Either way, history will be made on Election Day. Barack Obama will become the first Black president elected to a second term (as well as the first) or Mitt Romney will become the first Mormon elected president of the United States.

Obama is relying on his strong organizing ground game to propel him to victory, a strategy that relies heavily on Blacks, women, labor unions and youth. Romney is relying on high unemployment numbers and a sour economy to clear the path for a victory.

However, David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a progressive public policy think tank in Washington, D.C., doesn’t think that will be enough for the former Massachusetts governor.

 “A lot of White working class union employees, like in Ohio, know that [Romney] is anti-union,” Bositis said. “He opposed the bailout of the auto industry. He and the Republicans opposed extensions of unemployment benefits.”

Read more at The Greene County Democrat.

After receiving poor marks for his performance in his nationally-televised debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama received a much-needed boost from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report showing that unemployment fell to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest it has been in nearly four years.

The September report released last week is significant because, unlike in previous months, the rate did not drop because “discouraged workers” dropped out of the labor force.

Not all of the news was encouraging. Even though the unemployment rate for blacks dropped to 13.4 percent in September from 14.1 percent in August, it remained relatively flat for black men (14.2 percent in September vs. 14.3 percent in August).

The unemployment rate for white men decreased from 6.8 in August to 6.6 percent in September. The jobless rate for white women ticked down two-tenths in September to 6.3 percent. Black women saw the biggest decrease in the unemployment rate among adults, falling from 12 percent in August to 10.9 percent in September.

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“It’s a very mixed picture. I wouldn’t say that we’ve turned the corner, but I would say that unemployment rate is down some, but we still have a large amount of people working part-time for economic reasons,” said Wilhemina Leigh, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a public policy think tank.

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For many black men, the same set of circumstances that will prevent them from voting in the November 6 presidential election also block their ability to earn a living wage.

“A felony conviction is like an economic death sentence,” said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The number and types of jobs are significantly reduced for ex-felons, said Bositis. Even though some companies have special programs to help ex-offenders return to the job market, they can’t keep pace in some southern states where 20 percent of blacks have prior felony convictions.

Read more at The Charlotte Post.

Both President Obama and Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, have rejected an invitation from the NAACP and other Black groups, to participate in a forum to discuss issues important to African-Americans.

In late September, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People invited President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to articulate their plans for the Black community at a presidential forum planned for October 9 at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s oldest Black degree-granting institution.

The NAACP collaborated with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), MSNBC-TV, the Grio, and American Urban Radio Network in preparation for the forum. Veteran, award-winning journalist Lester Holt had agreed to moderate.

Jerry Lopes, president of American Urban Radio Network, said on Monday that both candidates had declined to appear, citing scheduling conflicts.

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This year, CNN chief political correspondent and host of “State of the Union” Candy Crowley will become the first woman in two decades to moderate a presidential debate. Crowley has big shoes to fill. Simpson also holds the record for the highest number of viewers for a presidential debate at 69.9 million.

Although the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a nonprofit organization that advocates for public policy reform to improve communities of color, applauded the CPD for selecting Crowley to moderate one of the presidential debates, they questioned the commissions rationale for denying Univision’s request for a fourth debate in a letter written to Janet Brown, executive director for the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The commission argued that the general election debate focuses on “issues of national interest that affect all citizens, including Univision’s audience.”

Read more at The Seattle Medium, The Charlotte Post, or The New Pittsburgh Courier.