LD Weighs in on Noticias Univision.com: Latino Influence and Political Paradox

The new America’s Voice – Latino Decisions pre-electoral poll is the basis for the latest LD column by David R. Ayón, published on the Univision news website.  This column, titled “El Poder de los Votantes Latinos,” discusses the poll’s findings on what Latinos say motivates them to vote and what their priority issues are this year.  Ayón notes that there are nearly as many undocumented Latino immigrant residents as there are projected Latino voters in the midterm elections, and that, according to the poll, most of those voters personally know at least one such undocumented immigrant.  It is not surprising, therefore, that immigration policy bears heavily on the priorities that Latinos take into the voting booth:

¿Por qué votan los latinos? ¿Qué es lo que quieren?  Estas preguntas se pueden contestar a ciencia cierta: para eso son las encuestas científicamente diseñadas como la recién divulgada por la organización Americas Voice y la firma encuestadora Latino Decisions. Una cifra que nos debería poner a pensar: se estima que 7.8 millones de latinos votarán en estas elecciones — es decir, aproximadamente un votante latino por cada migrante indocumentado latino que no puede votar.  Nos podríamos imaginar que cada latino que vota este año, cuando se pone a marcar su boleta electoral, va acompañado, simbólicamente, codo a codo, por un migrante silencioso.  Full column HERE

The previous Latino Decisions column on the Univision site, discusses the apparent “Latino Political Paradox” between the image of Latino social and cultural conservatism on one hand and the actual evidence of progressive political attitudes and behavior of most Latino voters on the other.  The column, titled “La Paradoja Política Latina,” is based on data and analysis presented in the new book Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation, by Latino Decisions’ co-founders Matt Barreto and Gary Segura.  Ayón argues that Latinos’ evidently high levels of religiosity, belief in self-reliance and opposition to abortion should be understood as separate and apart from, but not in contradiction with, how most Latinos approach politics and the role of government:

Ronald Reagan confiaba en que su partido, el Republicano, pronto llegaría a ganarse el voto latino. “Los hispanos son Republicanos,” dijo, “solo falta que se den cuenta.”  Toda una generación ha pasado desde que el entonces presidente derechista pronunciara aquella frase célebre. Pero en las últimas elecciones presidenciales, los latinos votaron en contra del candidato Republicano aun más que nunca — casi tres votos latinos para Barack Obama por cada uno para Mitt Romney.  ¿En qué se basó Reagan en su apreciación equivocada del electorado latino — compartida por muchos de sus correligionarios? Y por qué será que al contrario los latinos suelen favorecer decididamente a los demócratas?  Full column HERE

 


David R. Ayón is Senior Strategist and Advisor at Latino Decisions. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a director of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation.

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