In the aftermath of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, many Democrats believe Barack Obama's convincing victory could set the stage for a political realignment that could benefit the party for years to come.
这次美国总统大选的结果，让许多民主党人相信巴拉克.奥巴马令人信服的胜利，将导致美国政治舞台上出现新的整合，并将让民主党受益许多年。
President-elect Obama won 52 percent of the popular vote, the largest share for a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson won in 1964.
总统当选人奥巴马赢得了百分之52的普选票数，民主党自从1964年的林登.约翰逊之后，再没获得过这么大的胜利。
But more importantly, Obama expanded Democratic support among key voter groups including Hispanic-Americans, women, young people and suburbanites.
但更重要的是，奥巴马拓展了支持民主党的关键选民族群，包括拉美裔、女性、年轻人以及居住在郊区的人。
Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg has been examining who voted for Obama in the election and why.
民主党民调专家斯坦利.格林伯格考察了在大选中投票给奥巴马的人，并且提出原因。
"Latino, African-American, Asian, the diverse country that is increasingly diverse from the lowest ages up, and which helped give us this new politics," he said. "It is not an identity politics. It is a new diverse country that is rallying the kind of message and leadership that Obama represented and the Democratic Party has represented in these elections."
“拉美裔、非洲裔、亚裔，从新生儿到老人，我们国家日趋多元化，而这中情况促成了这片新政局。这并不是操弄族群认同的政治。这是一个新的多元国家，团结在奥巴马以及民主党在这些选举当中所代表的讯息与领导之下。”
Tom DeFrank, who has covered U.S. elections for decades and is the Washington bureau chief of the New York Daily News, says Republicans should take note of Obama's winning coalition.
"He really expanded the map for the Democrats, and that is something that Republicans, who are licking their wounds, have got to really think about hard between now and 2012," he said.
The makeup of the U.S. electorate has dramatically changed over the past several decades.
过去几十年来，美国的选民结构有戏剧性的变化。
In the 1976 presidential election, about 90 percent of those who voted were white. In this year's election, only about 74 percent were white, an indication of the growing strength of minority voters.
在1976年的总统大选当中，有大约百分之90的投票者是白人。在今年的选举当中，白人的比率只剩下百分之74，这显示出少数族裔选民的成长。
Exit polls show Obama won roughly two-thirds of the Hispanic vote, a growing force with the U.S. electorate.
对投票后选民的调查显示，奥巴马赢得大约三分之二的拉美裔选票。拉美裔是美国选民结构当中一股正在增强的力量。
Obama also scored huge victory margins with African-American voters and Asian-Americans.
Norman Ornstein, political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, told VOA's Press Conference USA program that Obama's success with minority voters bodes well for the Democratic Party in the future.
诺曼.奥恩斯坦是在华盛顿的“美国企业研究所”的政治学者。奥恩斯坦在美国之音的“美国记者会”节目上说，奥巴马在少数族裔当中的成功，预告了民主党的美好未来。
"Hispanics have moved up to be about eight percent [of the electorate] and Asian-Americans about six percent," he said. "And it turns out that all three groups [including African-Americans] are voting very substantially for Democrats. If that continues, given what we know about our population trends, we are going to have a problem for Republicans. And it is a problem that, let's face it, on the Hispanic front was exacerbated by some of the rhetoric on the immigration issue."
他说：“拉美裔选民目前已经上升到选民总数的百分之八，亚裔也上升到百分之六。这次选举的结果是，包括非洲裔、拉美裔和亚裔在内的三个少数族裔，大多数投的都是民主党的票。如果这个趋势继续下去的话，再加上我们已知的美国人口构成的走向，共和党将来肯定会有问题的。对拉美裔来讲，坦率地说，共和党在移民问题上的立场，是一大问题。”
Ornstein says that Obama also overwhelmingly won younger voters, giving the Democrats another advantage as they look ahead to future elections.
奥恩斯坦表示，绝大多数年青选民，也把票投给了奥巴马；这样一来，民主党的前景就很可观。
"But these younger voters voted en masse for Barack Obama," he said. "And if you are looking to the future, if you capture younger voters and you can hold them at all, there is a chance that you will capture them for a lifetime. That is the best way to build an enduring majority party."
Some Democrats see Obama's sweeping victory as a left of center political mandate for the party, given the party's expanded majorities in Congress as well.
这次奥巴马大胜、而且民主党在国会里的多数党地位也更加牢固，一些民主党人认为，民主党下一步的政策方向应该是中间偏左。
"I think it is a mandate that the political class in this country has an obligation to young people in this country to stop fighting over stuff that might have been a big issue 25 years ago, but it isn't any more," he said. "There are a lot of things that have to be done here."
民主党全国委员会主席迪恩说：“全国上下的政界人士都应该意识到，25年前争执不休的一些问题，对现在的年轻人来说，已经不是问题了，也不应该再争了。眼下要做的事有很多。”
Predictably, most Republicans scoff at the notion that Obama and the Democrats have won a political mandate.
"What has changed since 2004 is not the national philosophy, but the national mood," said Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "President-elect Obama leads a center-left party. But he now must govern a center-right nation."
邓肯是共和党全国委员会的主席。他说：“2004年以后，我们所目睹的变化不是美国社会思想的变化，而是人们情绪上的一种变化。新当选的总统奥巴马所领导的是一个中间偏左的政党，他面临的挑战是，必须要领导一个中间偏右的国家。”
Obama also did better with white voters, religious voters, especially Catholics, and suburban voters than Democrat John Kerry did four years ago. He also demonstrated an ability to attract support from upscale college-educated voters.
和民主党2004年推举出来的总统候选人约翰·克里相比，奥巴马这次在白人选民、信奉宗教的选民、尤其是天主教徒、以及那些住在大城市周围的选民当中，都获得了更多的选票。与此同时，受过高等教育的阶层，这次也都大力支持奥巴马。
Winning over moderate suburbanites helped Obama win southern states like Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, and competitive states in the Midwest like Ohio and Indiana.
奥巴马在大城市周围那些温和派选民当中的支持率，这次帮助他赢得了美国南部和中西部一些关键州的选票，这其中包括佛罗里达、维吉尼亚、北卡罗来纳、俄亥俄、以及印第安纳。 |