Despite power, white males a U.S. minority

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Even though Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are viewed as historic because they're not white males, white men have never been a U.S. majority, historians say.

The media was buzzing Saturday about the historic possibilities of one or the other of the pair attaining the White House. The candidacy of Obama, the Illinois U.S. senator and Democratic presidential nominee, is seen as historic because he is black. That of Alaska Gov. Palin, chosen by likely GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona as his running mate, is viewed that way because she is a woman.

But historians say if either wins, it won't really represent the triumph of minority group because white males have always been in the minority, The Washington Post reported.

"Actually, I don't think there has ever been a time when white males have been the numerical majority," Kevin Pollard, a senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, told the Post.

Census figures indicate in 2007, non-Hispanic white males were 32 percent of the population -- 97.7 million out of a total population of 301.6 million. White women, meanwhile, represented 33.6 percent of the population.