The 2012 election will be remembered for revealing major demographic shifts among voters. NPR White House correspondent Ari Shapiro covered Mitt Romney during the campaign.
He was back in Florida recently to speak to the Lifelong Learning Center at USF Sarasota-Manatee. Shapiro said two-thirds of Hispanic voters cast a ballot for Barack Obama in 2008 and that percentage actually grew to three-fourths in 2012.
"The Miami polling firm Sergio-Bendixon says Obama even almost won a majority of Cuban voters in Florida which is one of the staunchest Republican groups historically speaking, that seems to be changing" Shapiro said. "So, turnout was a big part of it but there are also interesting changes in demography and who is voting for which party."
Shapiro also suggested that the 2012 election will be the last time a major party’s presidential ticket will include two white men. Instead, he expects to see Latino or other minorities and female candidates included on the tickets of both parties.