[Mpls] 8th Ward makeup

[Steve Brandt]

I haven't been following the Ward 8 thread closely enough before Pam Taylor's post to see if anyone has posted the makeup of Ward 8's population.  I've appended some numbers below from the 2000 census to add to the discussion.  These are adapted from census block or block group totals, as I recall.  These numbers don't add up because of how the census was conducted.  For example, as I recall, the white total is white-non-Hispanic, whereas the majority total includes Hispanics who didn't identify a different race, such as native American.  Many people took advantage of the opportunity to identify their multiple races, and that's reflected in the other category.  I've kept the traditional majority-minority usage here, although it is somewhat archaic in the case of this ward.

Despite the confusion, some things can be said:
1)  The combined all-ages total for people of color added up to a sizable majority of ward population.
2)  Whites were the largest single racial group.
3)  Due to relative ages of the white and minority populations, the majority-minority split in population is much closer for the voting age group than for the overall population.
4)  None of this predicts anything about who actually shows up at the polls.  

Ward 8--
Total Pop:  29,558
Designated one race: 27,623 
Majority: 11,266
Minority: 18,292
Minoritypct: 61.9%
White: 12,719
African-American: 9,743
Indian: 669
Asian: 1,769
Pacific Islander: 20
Designated other: 2,703
Hispanic: 4,608
Voting-age Majority (read white): 9,806
Voting-age Minority: 11,133
Voting Total: 20,939
Minority Percentage: 53.2%

Steve Brandt
Star Tribune/Ward 8