Michigan has just become a right-to-work state — the 24th state to give workers the choice of whether or not they will pay union dues as a condition of working. Data from the last election indicate that this switch might be as important, or more so, than America’s demographic shift toward minorities that has been much touted in the weeks after the election.

Elections are not as simple as demographics. Otherwise, how did Mitt Romney win Texas by 16 points and lose California by 23 when Texas has a larger percentage of both Hispanic and African-American citizens?