Cite as: 532 U. S. 234 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
tion, while including heavily African-American precincts with equivalent, or lower, Democratic Party registration. See id., at 413-414, 415. Indeed, the District Court cites at length figures showing that the legislature included "several precincts with racial compositions of 40 to 100 percent African-American," while excluding certain adjacent precincts "with less than 35 percent African-American population" but which contain between 54% and 76% registered Democrats. Id., at 414.
As we said before, the problem with this evidence is that it focuses upon party registration, not upon voting behavior. And we previously found the same evidence, compare ibid. (District Court's opinion after trial) with App. to Juris. Statement 249a-250a (District Court's summary judgment opinion), inadequate because registration figures do not accurately predict preference at the polls. See id., at 174a; see also Cromartie, supra, at 550-551 (describing Dr. Peterson's analysis as "more thorough" because in North Carolina, "party registration and party preference do not always correspond"). In part this is because white voters registered as Democrats "cross-over" to vote for a Republican candidate more often than do African-Americans, who register and vote Democratic between 95% and 97% of the time. See Record, Deposition of Gerry Cohen 37-42 (discussing data); App. 304 (stating that white voters cast about 60% to 70% of their votes for Republican candidates); id., at 139 (Dr. Weber's testimony that 95% to 97% of African-Americans register and vote as Democrats); see also id., at 118 (testimony by Dr. Weber that registration data were the least reliable information upon which to predict voter behavior). A legislature trying to secure a safe Democratic seat is interested in Democratic voting behavior. Hence, a legislature may, by placing reliable Democratic precincts within a district without regard to race, end up with a district containing more heavily African-American precincts, but the reasons would be political rather than racial.
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