Enten argues that Obama’s falling polling numbers can’t be blamed on racism:
The greatest fall for Obama isn’t among whites in the south; it’s in the northeast – you know that region that was on the correct side of the Civil War. Obama went from winning northern whites by 10pt in the election to a -12 net approval now. The next greatest drop is in the west where Obama fought to a near-tie in the election, but now has a net approval of nearly -20 among white voters. Close is his 14pt drop in the midwest where Obama’s net approval is now a measly -23pt.
The one place where Obama’s support among whites hasn’t fallen sharply is in the south. Obama’s net approval there is only a statistically insignificant 3pt lower than it was before the election. In other words, it’s likely he completely bottomed out in that region. Lack of white support for Obama hasn’t bottomed out in other regions.
Nate Cohn believes that, unless Democrats win more white Texans, the Lone Star State won’t be turning blue any time soon:
[I]n a state where half of whites are evangelicals, there’s only so much room for Democrats to improve—at least if they keep nominating progressives.
The point isn’t that Democrats can’t do better among Texas whites. Maybe the next wave of young Texans will get more Democratic. Maybe the next wave of migrants will be more Democratic. Maybe Democrats will nominate a relatively conservative southerner. It’s all possible. The point is that they must if they intend to win any time soon. The growing Hispanic share of the population won’t be enough. And so far, there aren’t any signs of Democrats making big inroads among Texas whites. It might come some day, but it hasn’t; and there are plenty of reasons to question whether it will.
The Dish 