RNC participants by the numbers

Which party represents America’s Main Street?

The Republican Party does not announce the demographic breakdown of its roughly 4,500 delegates and alternates. But a variety of sources – including the New York Times and public radio surveys — show that the delegates fit a stereotype the party keeps trying to break away from.

About 1.5 percent of participants are African-American and 5 percent are Hispanic. In the party of Sarah Palin, male participants outnumber females 68 percent to 32 percent.

A week ago in Denver, the Democratic Party was boasting of its most diverse delegation ever. Of its 4,400 seated delegates, 44.3 percent represented minorities. African-Americans made up 24 percent of the total, Hispanics 11.8 percent, American Indians 2.5 percent and Asian-Pacific, 4.6 percent. There were slightly more women than men in the delegation. – Doug Grow