37
activists were black. (The state’s population was 11.6% black in 2000.) Both parties lagged in
attracting Hispanic activists. The Feigert study showed that 10.1% of Democratic activists were
Hispanic in 2001, while 3.9% of Republican activists were Hispanic.
112
(The 2000 census put
Texas at 32% Hispanic.) At their conventions, both parties addressed the importance of
diversity. For example, at a press conference following her election as chair, Tina Benkiser
spoke with pride about the party’s gains in recruiting minorities and said the Republicans have a
“very aggressive” minority outreach program.
Of course, rhetoric and reality are not necessarily the same. As noted earlier,
Republican prospects among blacks do not appear promising as long as the party believes that
it is the marketing of its message rather than the content of the message that is the problem.
On the other hand, outreach to Hispanics appears more successful. For one thing, Hispanics
have not been as extensively mobilized as blacks and are less thoroughly integrated into the
Democratic party. In 1994, only 11% of gubernatorial voters were Hispanic, although the 1990
census showed a population that was 26% Hispanic.
113
In 2004, exit polls showed that 20% of
Texas voters were Hispanic, well below the state’s 35% Hispanic population in 2003.
114
Moreover, since Hispanics are not as liberal in their views as blacks, they are more susceptible
to Republican appeals. Those appeals resonated in 2004, when exit polls showed 49% of
Texas Hispanics supported George W. Bush’s reelection bid. While those figures were
challenged in some quarters,
115
the modest mobilization of Hispanics at both the elite and mass
levels provides opportunities for Republicans.
116
For Democrats, diversity is a fact, but there are still matters of concern. African
Americans are clearly at home in the party. One estimate put the number of black delegates at
the 2004 convention at about 1,000 of the 6,000 total.
117
As in other Southern Democratic
parties the black-white coalition in Texas seems “generally stable.”
118
As noted earlier, the
picture with Hispanics is not so clear. On one hand, Democrats still normally do well among
Hispanics. For example, in 2000 Al Gore won an estimated 74% of the vote in precincts where
Convention