By — Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-congress-compare-countrys-diversity Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter How does the new Congress compare with the country’s diversity? Politics Jan 3, 2017 4:47 PM EDT Changes in power at the White House are grabbing the most headlines right now. But the longer-term story about American democracy in recent years has been the shift in the demographics of the population as a whole. Here’s how the diversity in the nation compares with the makeup of the new Congress and the proposed new Trump cabinet (looking at the 19 nominees he’s named). In general, both the proposed Trump White House and new Congress are distinctly less diverse and have a much lower representation of women than America at large. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is increasingly glaring as America becomes more diverse. The Obama cabinet was more diverse than they one Mr. Trump has proposed so far, but it was still far short of representing women and Hispanics. Highlights: Mr. Trump’s cabinet of choice is particularly different than America at large when it comes to blacks and Hispanics, with a single African-American nominee so far and no Hispanics. Congress has record high numbers of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans, but all are still represented in much lower numbers in Congress than they are in the country as a whole. Here’s a look at those numbers: READ MORE: Trump’s cabinet is mostly white and male. What will that mean for policy? We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS News Hour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work. @LisaDNews
Changes in power at the White House are grabbing the most headlines right now. But the longer-term story about American democracy in recent years has been the shift in the demographics of the population as a whole. Here’s how the diversity in the nation compares with the makeup of the new Congress and the proposed new Trump cabinet (looking at the 19 nominees he’s named). In general, both the proposed Trump White House and new Congress are distinctly less diverse and have a much lower representation of women than America at large. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is increasingly glaring as America becomes more diverse. The Obama cabinet was more diverse than they one Mr. Trump has proposed so far, but it was still far short of representing women and Hispanics. Highlights: Mr. Trump’s cabinet of choice is particularly different than America at large when it comes to blacks and Hispanics, with a single African-American nominee so far and no Hispanics. Congress has record high numbers of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans, but all are still represented in much lower numbers in Congress than they are in the country as a whole. Here’s a look at those numbers: READ MORE: Trump’s cabinet is mostly white and male. What will that mean for policy? We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now