President Barack Obama was helped in the 2008 presidential election by the large turnout of black voters. However, many in his camp fear that just a small decline in turnout for this November’s election could cause him to struggle or even lose in a number of important states.

National Urban League leaders on Tuesday released a report that said even though blacks turned out to vote in record number for Obama in 2008, if the African American vote drops just 5% in this year’s election, it could change the outcome for some important states Obama needs for reelection.

If the black vote were to return to its 2004 election level of just 60%, compared to the 2008 level of 65%, it could spell disaster for Obama in states like North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio. The National Urban League president, Marc Morial said they wanted all black voters to know how important turnout is and that their turnout in certain states could make Obama’s reelection easier. A new Gallup poll covering 12 swing states, including Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia a week ago, showed that Obama and Romney are practically tied, with Obama holding only a 2% lead.

Executive director Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League Policy Institute expressed that analysis has shown that for the 2008 election more 18 to 25 African Americans voted compared to whites in the same age grouping for just the first time.

Morial said that many pundits in the political arena dismiss how important the black vote is because 95% of them voted for President Obama in 2008 over his opponent John McCain. The president of the Urban League said no one has picked up the black vote as being important for swing and battleground states.