Black Voters Want More PowerBlack leaders breathed a sigh of relief when 93 percent of black voters gave their support to President Barack Obama’s re-election bid. It gave the leaders the chance to get more attention from the president as well as Congress.

Black leaders are now thinking how much they have to demand from President Obama, especially after defeated Republican candidate Mitt Romney asserted that the president gave gifts to minorities in exchange for their votes. The black leaders are now sending their post-election lists to the president.

Reverend Al Sharpton said that they want most of the looming fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts away from the middle and working class. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous echoed the same message at Congress.

Blacks composed 13 percent of the electorate in 2012. It was the same as in 2008. Participation among whites declined to 72 percent and Hispanics went up to 10 percent. This was according to the national exit polls.

Black leaders pointed at the minority participation in this year’s election when they urge the government to address unemployment among blacks, which was at 12.7 percent when President Obama took office. It went as high as 16.5 percent a year later and 14.3 percent in October. The unemployment rate of the nation is at 7.9 percent.

National Urban League President Marc Morial said that the economic conditionals made it hard for leaders to mobilize black voters. Morial asked President Obama’s second term to focus on income equality and economic opportunity.

In a letter sent to the President, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Minority Nancy Pelosi, Morial said that a jobs program should emphasize public works and infrastructure, energy, and broadband technology. It should focus on communities where unemployment is high.

African American voter samples in national exit polls are not useful for giving turnout measures. In order to get the turnout numbers for specific groups, census surveys and other data must be used. Experts said that exit polls can be used to study various groups as part of the overall vote.