White Americans are a shrinking demographic, and a new report by the Applied Population Lab shows it's happening faster than the census bureau projected. Whites are now dying faster than being born in 26 states, up from 17 just two years earlier.
The Census Bureau projects whites could drop below 50 percent of the U.S. population by 2045, but Dr. Robert Griffin, a demographer with the Public Religion Research Institute, says it's not that simple.
“Some of that is a little bit illusory right? It's not like these people aren't having children, it can sometimes be the case that their children are now multi-racial or something like that,” he says.
However, Griffin says the long-term shift in demographics will eventually change the political landscape.
“In particular, white noncollege voters, they're sort of election over election becoming a small part of the electorate,” he says. “That's going to make it a little bit harder for Republicans to win every year, but a little bit easier for Democrats to win every year.”
Some states will see the shift sooner than others.
“The biggest growing group in Texas are Hispanics, but also Hispanics are a lot more conservative in Texas than they are in other parts of the country,” says Griffin. “Places like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, these are places that are moving as quick, but the populations are a little bit different, a little more sympathetic toward the Democratic Party.”