Are Native Americans Heading For Extinction?
By some standards, it may seem that Americans are becoming extinct. The data from the 2010 Census showed a very strong and rapid growth in the population that indicates that the ethnic diversity of the country is changing, whether people want it to happen or not. The Pew Hispanic Center and US Census Board and shows that the number of Hispanics, and Asians, in the United States has grown rapidly in the last ten years reviewed the data from the Census. For those who are anti-immigrant, the nativist population is slimming by all accounts. According to the Census, immigrants account for about a third of all Hispanics in the country and about two thirds of the Asians in the country are immigrants. In addition to this, about an additional quarter of both Asians and Hispanics are native born children from immigrants in the country. Hispanics and Asians are likely to become a larger part of the population and that also means the electorate, and that may mean nativists will become more marginalized.

Dramatic Growth Facts
The growth in both of these sectors has been quite dramatic. For example, in 2010, there were 505 million Hispanic people in the country, which is up from the 35.3 million present just ten years prior. That means Hispanics now make up about 1/6th of the population of the country and account for more than half of the nation's total population growth during the last ten years. In terms of Asians, there are 14.7 million Asians in the country now, compared to 10.2 million in 2000. That group makes up 1/12 of the country's population. However, the dramatic number may be that the number of non-Hispanic white people has fallen from 69 percent in 2000 to just 64 percent in 2010.

A Changing Demographic
This increasing Hispanic culture is changing the demographic and electoral landscape in the country, especially in many of the country's battleground states. For example in New Mexico, Hispanics now make up about half of the state's population. In Texas and California, this group makes up about a third of the population. In other areas, the Hispanic population has doubled, this includes in the countries of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Mississippi and Tennessee. In several states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Louisiana, the population would not have even increased in the last ten years if it was not for the growing number of Hispanics present.

2012 Election
Many feel that the 2012 election will be affected by these changes in the demographics of countries. Those politicians that take a stance of demonizing immigrant laws are most likely to see improvements in their Hispanic and Asian voters. Many of these people are among the immigrants that came to the country or the children of those immigrants, in the last few years. Those who are running for office, then, must keep in mind that the battlegrounds of 2008 are going to be very different from the next election year.