Latino voters

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January 31, 2012 | 1:59 PM | By

A reading (and listening) list for the Florida primary

Photo by Calsidyrose/Fickr (Creative Commons)

It may or may not be a stretch to call it “the Latino primary,” as some have called it, but there’s no question that Florida’s sizeable and evolving Latino electorate will play a big role in determining whether Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (the likely winner) or Newt Gingrich wins today’s primary election in the Sunshine State.

As they and the other GOP candidates have spent the past two weeks wooing Florida’s Latinos, a good part of the media discussion has revolved around immigration and how much it matters to Latino voters, and whether the harsh rhetoric seen earlier in the campaign could cost the party in November. There are broader questions, such as whether Florida’s changing Latino voter profile will once again favor President Obama, who has been struggling with Latinos, or the GOP, which is struggling even more. Nationwide, even as Obama’s Latino approval ratings slip, does a Republican candidate stand a chance with Latino voters in the fall?

Here’s a five-item reading (and listening) list as the election results come in:

In Florida, a changing Latino mosaic reshapes politics This has been an undercurrent of the Florida coverage lately, including in a post last week on Multi-American, but this Chicago Tribune piece illustrates the demographic changes well. In a nutshell, appealing to conservative Cuban American anti-Castro hardliners (as both Romney and Gingrich tried to do last week) doesn’t work as well as it used to, with younger Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, South American and Mexican immigrants now making up a growing part of Florida’s Latino electorate.

Why Florida’s Latino Republicans tilt toward Mitt Romney The Christian Science Monitor explores reasons why Romney, who hasn’t exactly won over Latino fans for his strict position on immigration, is leading in Florida anyway. According to the story, his private-sector career could be appealing to “entrepreneurial-minded Hispanics.”

Immigration rattles the Republicans Immigration is not the be-all issue for Latino voters, as Romney’s ratings in Florida show. But then again, he’s only competing against fellow Republicans. The party as a whole had had trouble attracting Latino voters, with the tough immigration rhetoric that appeals to some GOP faithful alienating swing voters and even some conservative Latinos. This Salon piece delves into the quandary the candidates have found themselves in, something that could hurt the party in the long run.

Hardliners and Swing Voters: Florida’s Fractures Latino Voters Is immigration as big of an issue among Florida’s Latino voters, including Cubans (who usually get to stay if they make it to U.S. soil illegally) and Puerto Ricans (who get automatic U.S. citizenship)? It depends on who you talk to. This piece from WNYC breaks down the GOP’s Latino problems in and beyond Florida.

The GOP’s fight for Latino voters in Florida What lessons can be learned from the way the Republican candidates have attempted to woo Florida’s Latino voters? And if immigration isn’t going to win Latino votes for the party nominee in November, what, if anything, might? Republican political analyst Hector Barajas and Democratic strategist Roger Salazar shared their insights in this segment last week on KPCC’s AirTalk.

And rest assured, there will be plenty more to read about all this tomorrow.

FILED UNDER: Florida electorate, Florida primary, Florida voters, Latino vote, Latino voters, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich
October 26, 2011 | 4:36 PM | By

Report charts aspects of Asian American life in the U.S., including political involvement

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

A comprehensive new report examines various aspects of life for Asian Americans in the United States, a population whose rate of growth surpassed that of Latinos between 2000 and 2010.

Compiled by the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, the report draws from census data to examine political involvement, how Asian Americans are affected by immigration policies and other key issues. Among the highlights:

  • The Asian American population in the United States now numbers more than 17 million, having grown 46 percent between 2000 and 2010
  • The vast majority of Asian Americans in the United States live in Hawaii (57.4 percent), followed by California (14.9 percent)
  • Sixty percent of Asian Americans are foreign-born, the highest foreign-born proportion of any racial group nationwide, and roughly one-third are limited in their English proficiency
  • Approximately 1.6 million immigrants from Asian countries entered the United States in the last decade to work and reunite with family; some had to wait as long as 23 years
  • Approximately 57 percent of Asian American immigrants are U.S. citizens, an increase from 50 percent in 2000
  • More than 15 percent of Asian Americans are of mixed race, a much higher proportion than the general population; only percent of all Americans are multiracial
  • The buying power of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders nearly doubled between 2000 and 2009, growing 89 percent, a rate surpassed only by that of Latinos
  • At the same time, some Asian American ethnic groups (including Hmong, Bangladeshi and Cambodian) are among the nation’s poorest
  • While record numbers of Asian Americans voted in the 2008 national election, only 68 percent of those old enough to vote are U.S. citizens, and only 55 percent of those who are eligible to register have done so

The political aspect is critical, with strong Asian American population growth seen during the last decade in politically important states like Nevada, where the number of Asian American residents grew by 116 percent. While Asian American voters could well influence next year’s presidential election, there have long been complaints that these voters are underestimated by politicians, who focus on procuring Latino votes but do little outreach to Asian Americans.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Asian American voters, Latino voters
August 16, 2011 | 4:36 PM | By

Are Latino voters truly liberal at heart?

Photo by Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC

Latino voters at a polling place in Bell, California, November 2010

A short post yesterday highlighted a national poll of Latino registered voters who said by a large majority that they’d rather raise taxes on the wealthy than have government programs eliminated to ease the national debt. So what does that tell us about Latinos politically?

The Latino Decisions polling firm, which conducted the survey along with Spanish-language media publisher impreMedia, posted a paper on its website today with this conclusion as its title: “It’s True: Latinos are Liberals, and Other Important Matters.”

It’s not a conclusion that would go down well with high-ranking Latino conservatives in state and federal office, or for that matter, a good chunk of the older population of Miami. Even out west, where the Mexican American majority skews left, there are many who remain socially conservative. In the 2010 general election, 60 percent of Latinos voted for Democratic candidates in congressional district races; 38 percent voted for Republicans, no small number.

That said, the paper by Gary Segura, a political science professor at Stanford University and Latino Decisions’ political director, raises some interesting points about the core political values that Latino voters embrace. Segura builds on how the majority of respondents in yesterday’s Latino voter poll frowned on cutting programs and embraced raising taxes. He writes:

…the plurality of respondents preferred a taxes only solution (46%), with another 37% favoring a combination of taxes and spending cuts. The GOP solution—of spending cuts alone—attracts only 8% of all Latino registered voters.

Put another way, 83% of Latino registered voters favored at least some tax increases to close the deficit. Moreover, the pattern was consistent across many sub-populations. Even among Republicans (who represent only about 20% of all registered voters), only 30% favor the cuts-only approach while 57% favor at least some taxation as part of the solution.

This finding, while specific to recent events and an ongoing debate, actually underlines the difficult challenge facing Republicans who wish to grow their Latino vote share. At their core, Latinos are progressives. That is, across a wide array of policy questions, Latinos on average sit significantly to the left of white Americans.

More importantly, when queried about their core beliefs regarding government, its role, size and growth, Latinos (and other minorities) regularly offer views that are left of center and left of Anglos. This finding on their preferences regarding fiscal policy, then, is consistent with a large array of public opinion data.

It’s an interesting take. GOP leaders have taken a different tack in their pitch to Latino voters, trying to find common ground on conservative social values. Last month, the Republican State Leadership Committee announced plans to invest $3 million into recruiting a hundred Latino candidates for state legislative seats in 2012.

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, Latino voters
August 15, 2011 | 2:44 PM | By

Latino voters weigh in on the debt deal

Source: Latino Decisions-impreMedia

The latest in a series of tracking polls measuring the attitudes of Latino registered voters has respondents weighing in on the debt deal negotiated by the Obama administration and Republicans in Congress.

In the survey, conducted by the Latino Decisions polling firm in partnership with impreMedia, the parent company of the Spanish-language Los Angeles daily La Opinión, nearly half those polled (46 percent) said they preferred raising taxes on the wealthy as opposed to cutting existing programs.

Only seven percent said they favored cutting programs. Thirty-seven percent of the Latino voters polled they favored a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.

A “super committee” of legislators charged with finding ways to reduce the deficit has been created as part of the debt compromise. Committee members were named last week and must present their recommendations to Congress by Nov. 23.

Latino Decisions and impreMedia have been working together to produce a series of national tracking polls exploring the attitudes of Latino registered voters. Recent polls have measured voters’ attitudes on the Obama administration’s handling of immigration issues and the importance of immigration among federal policy issues.

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, Debt deal, impreMedia, Latino Decisions, Latino voters
June 24, 2011 | 4:36 PM | By

NCLR’s Janet Murguía: ‘A few nonpartisan dos and don’ts for aspiring candidates’

Photo by nathangibbs/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Given the rocky start that one presidential hopeful in Texas had yesterday, making a dud of a tequila joke before a room full of Latinos, the timing for an insider’s guide to the Latino vote couldn’t be better.

The Hill’s Congress Blog published the guide today, written by National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguía. And while it doesn’t go so far as to advise against tasteless jokes, it covers the basics: Take Latino voters and their concerns seriously, especially immigration; engage them and don’t take them for granted; don’t demonize them, because they’ll vote against you. An excerpt:

Don’t write off the Latino vote. Candidates who believe that Hispanics are part of any party’s base are under a grave misapprehension. While it is true that most Hispanics are registered Democrats, history also shows that most are frequent ticket-splitters. Both President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush received more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in their reelection campaigns.

Some analysts note that a Republican needs to receive 40 percent of the Latino vote to win the presidency. In fact, for many candidates in 2010, failing to engage the Latino voter cost them the election. So those who appeal to Latino voters early stand a better chance of ending strong.

While accounting for only 6.9 percent of all voters, Latinos made up a larger share of the electorate last year than in any previous midterm election. Recent polls have ranked immigration as a top policy issue among these voters.

FILED UNDER: Latino voters, National Council of La Raza, NCLR
June 13, 2011 | 12:37 PM | By

Obama and immigration: More details from a poll of Latino voters

Source: impreMedia-Latino Decisions Tracking Poll, June 9, 2011

The results of a nationwide poll of Latino voters released last week found immigration to be a personal issue for many. Among other things, out of a sample of 500 registered voters in 21 states, 53 percent said they knew someone who is undocumented, and one-fourth said they knew a person or family who has faced immigrant detention or deportation.

Today, the polling firm Latino Decisions and impreMedia, parent company of the Spanish-language Los Angeles newspaper La Opinión, announced more detailed results from their most recent joint tracking poll.

These provided a sampling of Latino voters’ opinions of President Obama, in particular their opinions of his handling of immigration issues.

From a summary of the results, some highlights:

48% approve of Obama’s handling of immigration issue; 38% disapprove

48% say Democrats are doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics; 31% say Democrats don’t care too much; 7% say Dems are being hostile

12% say Republicans are doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics; 49% say GOP doesn’t care too much; 23% say GOP is being hostile

46% think the lack of immigration reform since ’08 is understandable given all the issues facing the country; 42% say Obama should have pushed harder to pass reform

50% think immigration reform has not passed because Republicans are blocking passage; 33% think it has not passed because Obama did not push hard enough

51% think the President’s recent outreach on immigration is a serious attempt to pass reform; 41% think the President is just saying what Latinos want to hear because the election is approaching

55% say Republican calls for increased border security is an excuse to block immigration reform; 30% think increasing border security is a legitimate concern

Respondents were also asked how they plan to vote in 2012. Almost half, 49 percent, said they were certain they would vote for Obama; 17 percent said they were leaning toward Obama. Ten percent said they would certainly vote Republican, and 12 percent said they were leaning toward voting for a Republican candidate. Twelve percent reported being undecided.

Latino Decisions and impreMedia have been working together to produce a series of six polls exploring the attitudes of Latino voters. This is the third in the series. The most recent poll measured the importance of immigration among Latino voters as a federal policy issue.

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, impreMedia, La Opinion, Latino Decisions, Latino voters, President Obama
June 10, 2011 | 10:41 AM | By

Immigration issues hit home for Latino voters

Source: impreMedia-Latino Decisions Tracking Poll, June 9, 2011

Since early this year, the polling firm Latino Decisions has been working with impreMedia, parent company of the Spanish-language Los Angeles newspaper La Opinión, to produce a series of tracking polls measuring Latinos voters’ attitudes.

A recent poll this spring ranked the importance of various federal policy issues, with immigration topping the list. Now, the latest poll digs more deeply into the immigration topic. Its results illustrate just how personal of an issue immigration is for these voters, and provide a glimpse into the prevalence of mixed status in family and community circles.

Out of a sample of 500 registered voters in 21 states who identified as Latino, 53 percent said they knew someone who is undocumented. One-fourth said they knew a person or family who has faced immigrant detention or deportation.

From a summary of the June tracking poll, a few of the highlights:

53% of Latino registered voters say they know somebody who is an
undocumented immigrant; and 16% say they have a family member who is
undocumented immgrant

25% say they know a person or family who has faced detention or
deportation for immigration reasons

76% say they believe an anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic environment
exists today

75% support comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a
pathway to citizenship

74% want the President to stop the deportation of of any undocumented
immigrant who has not committed a crime, and is married to a U.S.
citizen or legal resident

66% want the President to stop the deportation of any undocumented
immigrant high school and college age youth who has not committed any crime.

This is the third in a series of six national polls exploring the opinions of Latino voters. Latino Decisions and impreMedia have announced they will release more detailed results next week.

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, impreMedia, La Opinion, Latino Decisions, Latino voters
May 10, 2011 | 3:15 PM | By

Report: Immigration tops the list for Latino voters, and it’s personal

Photo by nathangibbs/Flickr (Creative Commons)

President Obama’s speech in El Paso, Texas today regarding immigration reform has been characterized by some as an effort to appeal to Latino voters while defending his immigration record. And for good reason, a new poll indicates, because the Latino electorate remains focused on immigration as a front-burner issue.

The poll measured the importance of immigration as a federal policy issue with different subsets of Latino voters; it is one of a series of tracking polls conducted by impreMedia (the parent company of La Opinión) and the polling firm Latino Decisions.

According to the results, Latino voters who were asked to identify the most important issues that leaders in Washington, D.C. should address placed immigration at the top of the list overall, above the economy, education and health care.

From “One Year After SB 1070: Why Immigration Will Not Go Away.” Source: Latino Decisions

The priorities varied among smaller subsets: For example, U.S.-born Latino voters ranked immigration second behind the economy, while first-generation immigrants ranked the economy second. And interestingly, while both Latino Democrats and Republicans ranked immigration as the top issue to address, more Republicans than Democrats placed it at the top of the list.

Today’s Latino electorate weighs immigration more heavily than prior generations, according to the report. Recent enforcement-based policies, which have affected Latinos beyond just the undocumented population, have made the issue personal for many. From the report:

The vigorous enforcement of deportation policy has a palpable, direct, negative impact on daily life for millions of Latinos, not just unauthorized immigrants. Communities, families, businesses and schools absorb the impact when relatives, parents, customers, friends, and students are suddenly gone.

…For millions of Latinos, immigration politics is a reality, not an abstraction observed in news stories.  As President Obama found during his Univision Town Hall on Hispanic Education event, it is difficult to engage Latinos on other issues when immigration, and all that it implies, lingers in the political context. This is a sharp shift from prior generations with little demonstrable interest in the issue. Candidates and strategists relying on such out-dated trends, feeling confident they can win over the Latino electorate without addressing immigration because “Latino voters don’t care about immigration”, ignore the reality upon us today.

The complete report is on the Latino Decisions website.

FILED UNDER: El Paso, Latino voters, President Obama