According to a information by the University of California Berkeley, there is some interesting information about the ideological identity of African American voters. According to the study:

• 3.6% of African American voters describe themselves as "extremely conservative"
• 10% of African American voters describe themselves as "conservative"
• 12.4% of African American voters describe themselves as "slightly conservative"

So, it would seem that about 26% of of the black voters polled consider themselves somewhere between "extremely conservative" and "slightly conservative". And in addition to this, 38% of the black voters polled considered themselves moderate. 35% of black voters polled considered themselves somewhere between "extremely liberal," "liberal" and "slightly liberal."

This compares with 35.6% of the white voters polled who consider themselves conservative, 38.8% of the white voters who consider themselves moderate, and 25.7% of the white voters who considered themselves liberal.

These numbers suggest that there is not as great an ideological divide between the races as many would suggest.

HOWEVER, when you compare this information to the CNN exit polls for 2000 and 2004, you see that for black voters, ideology isn't reflected in voting patterns. No matter the position on the political spectrum, black voters tend to vote for Democrats. And it's not because of ideology but because of long-term relationship damage between the GOP and black voters.

In 2004, 88% of black voters voted for Kerry and 11% voted for Bush. The same year, 41% of white voters voted for Kerry and 58% voted for Bush. In 2000, 90% of black voters voted for Gore and 9% voted for Bush while 42% of whites voted for Gore and 54% for Bush.

Think about it. 64% of black voters described themselves as either conservative or moderate compared to 74.4% of white voters. Not such a big gap. But yet, the black vote goes almost exclusively to the Democrats while the white vote goes slightly toward the Republicans.

I'll tell you the truth as a black conservative. It's not just about Democratic exploitation of the racial divide, yada yada yada, or any of the other reasons that your typical "conservative" media pundit puts out there. This mismatch is largely because of a 48 year-old rift between the Republican Party and black voters. There is an entire generation of black voters who were brought up to believe that Republicans don't like us - and there have been more than a few politicians and pundits in the party who have either strengthened or at least not quelled this perception. And it doesn't take a genius from looking at the numbers and being aware of the history to figure out that there are a lot of conservative or at least non-liberal black voters who vote for the Democrats because they're not Republicans. This rift is costing the GOP many conservative votes that are just being lost but that they might otherwise have been able to get. And a notable portion of it is being lost because many Republican candidates haven't even bothered to ask for our vote.

Isn't it time to end this lose-lose situation? Black voters are losing because no one is competing for our vote (and because of the harm of a number of liberal social and economic policies espoused by the Democratic Party). Republicans are losing because the shifting demographics and attitudes are making it impossible for a party that looks to many to be ethnically monolithic from doing as well in the 21st century as it did in the latter part of the 20th century.

It's time for the GOP leadership to make a sustained, dedicated and long-term effort to reach out to black voters and, over time, undo the damage of Richard Nixon and the "southern strategy." It will take a long time. But the alternative is bad for both the GOP and for blacks. And for America. Political parties need to make it extremely clear that they're really, sincerely interested in getting their message out to all voters. We don't bite.

Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee gets it. He understands. Listen to his comments in the GOP debate at Morgan State University last year. The GOP would be well advised to listen to him and follow his advice on repairing the damage. This way, the Republican Party can eventually expand the pool of conservative voters instead of hoping and praying for the single-digit electoral vote margins that are the hallmark of an unhealthily divided country.