A Guide to Score the Latino Vote

A Guide to Score the Latino Vote

by Natalia García

In an effort to earn the Latino vote, candidates have been addressing the issues that concern the Latino community strongly through the media. These issues are varied and differ in their priority from those of the rest of the American population. The roles of class, race, and gender affect the decisions of some voters within the Hispanic-American community but these factors should not be of major concern, for there are more important issues that the candidates should address in order to score the Latino vote.

According to the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute a total of 9.3 million Latinos are expected to vote this November which constitutes a 20 to 25 percent of the population. The National Latino Opinion Leaders Survey on the 2008 Presidential Election conducted by the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) has shown that Latino leaders find Hillary Clinton ahead with a 79 percent against a 17 percent for Sen. Barack Obama and a minor 4% for other candidates. Having Latin America an old-fashioned patriarchal culture it is hard to believe that Sen. Hillary Clinton is leading the Latino vote, although it would be just as hard to have Sen. Barack Obama leading the vote due to the controversies that often arise between Latinos and African Americans. Some Latinos like 66 year-old Sonya Lunden wouldn’t vote for Obama because they think that “Obama is too young and pro-black”; although others differ, like 22 year old Mexican-American Cindy Barrera who has been waiting to become a citizen for over 18 years - “I would vote for Obama just because I would want to see someone other than a white person in power.” Colombian Carolina Félix, 25, thinks that “the candidate’s race does not matter, although it does matter to others.” The truth is that Latinos are comfortable with what they know - “Bill did a good job, and Hillary has experience” - said Alvaro Vásquez, 25, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who as many others is aware of the economic boom during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Despite their efforts, most Latinos don’t know much about the rest of the candidates due to their recent appearance in the public eye or their lack of publicity.

“I am a democrat, so I will vote on those grounds,” stated future voter William Tipacti, 36, who is part of the major 59 percent of the 9.3 million Latino voters who call themselves democrats. However, there seems to be an issue that motivates Latino voters to oversee the party their prospective candidate belongs to, the color of their, or their gender. Andrea García, a first time voter who emigrated from Peru 8 years ago doesn’t feel that way - “I am a democrat - said the 26 year old - but I would vote for McCain because I like his ideas for an immigration reform.” Candidate John McCain thinks there is a need to recognize the “importance of building strong allies in México and Latin America” who share the same beliefs and live under the same ideas Americans do, “recognize the importance of a flexible labor market…recognize the importance of assimilation of our immigrant population,” and overall, “recognize that America will always be the ‘shining city upon a hill,’ a beacon of hope and opportunity for those seeking a better life built on hard work and optimism.”

The idea of a beneficial immigration reform is at the peak of the Latino concerns during this election. “Immigration is important,” Mr. Tipacti said, “someone who supports deportation does not get my vote”. Indeed, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, along with Republican John McCain have agreed in that there should be an immigration reform that avoids deportation and instead benefits the current migrants without affecting the American economy negatively. Yubilán Ottermann, a 32 year-old Chilean musician thinks that “every crime-free immigrant who has been [in the United States] for at least 10 years should be automatically granted citizenship”. The top candidates have agreed in that they should keep families together and provide citizenships for the role-model immigrants who work hard, pay taxes, and respect the law. The candidates have also recognized a need for reinforcement in our borders and workplace in order to remove the factors that promote illegal immigration being one of these factors the assimilation of English as the country’s official language which all candidates have voted for.

The main issues that move us such as immigration, education, economy, and discrimination have been carefully addressed by each one of the candidates, being their ideas and reforms very similar to one another’s in that they all present an improvement for the Latino community. It is now for us Latinos to decide on which ideas we find more genuine and to inform ourselves about which candidate appeals to us the most. Furthermore, we can be satisfied in knowing that as Latino-immigrants, we still keep the beauty of our culture, which lies in that we are individuals that genuinely care for one another and particularly recognize the importance of family; we think of our community as a group which is why we are passionately concerned about the issue of immigration, whether it affects us directly or not. As 25 year old voter Alvaro Vasquez says, “This is what this country is about - equal opportunity for everyone.” We want our hard-working Latino brothers and sisters to have the same rights any other hard-working American has in order to stop the abuse towards the undocumented immigrants in the workplace and in order to achieve the dignity we deserve, for it is that abuse we were running away from and that dignity we were searching for when we left everything we knew behind and stepped on this land.

Colombian-American voter Gina Alvarado, 35, speaks for us when she says that “We need change, change is good.” As Latinos, we are playing a crucial role in the future of this country for the importance given to our vote in the upcoming elections. We are being given the chance to change history. This change can help us achieve the desired recognition we have been waiting for; it can represent an improvement in our role within the American society and help us unite for future causes that will benefit us. Now that we have the chance to be heard, now that we have recognized our problems and have been attributed the opportunity to take the first step for the prosperity of our community, we shouldn’t let this opportunity pass us by, for it doesn’t come often. We should go out, speak for those who can’t, and let our voices be heard.