Friday, October 05, 2012

Latinos and the presidential race in Charlotte

In the past few months, I've been asked a number of times about the small number of Latinos who were registered to vote in North Carolina. My basic answer is that the parties have not done as much outreach as they could, and here is some more evidence:


And in battleground states like North Carolina, $11 million has been spent on ads targeting Hispanics.  
That’s eight times what was spent on Spanish-language ads in 2008.  Still, little if any of that money is being spent on Charlotte’s Spanish-language media, says  Hilda Gurdian. She’s the publisher of La Noticia, the region's largest Spanish-language newspaper, based in Charlotte. Her paper also has offices in Asheville and Raleigh. But when she contacted both presidential campaigns, they keep telling her the same thing: they’re not ready to advertise in Charlotte.  
And she finds that surprising because Latinos make up more than 13 percent of the population in Charlotte. 

So there is an increase, but not so much in Charlotte. This is a mistake for the parties, though understandable from a strategic perspective. My hunch is that the campaigns figure that the relatively few Latino voters in Charlotte can be reached in English, and with a finite amount of money that is the best bang for your buck. 

The mistake is that cultivating Spanish-speakers--many of whom are young and unregistered, either because they're not 18 yet or because they simply haven't done so--will pay lots of dividends later. Mecklenburg County is critical for winning the state, and has a large number of young Latino citizens. It would be wise for both parties to consider that after the election.

1 comments:

Defensores de Democracia 1:45 PM  

The Hill : Weekly tracking poll from Latino Decisions : Obama jumped from the 65-26 percent advantage he held six weeks ago among Latino Voters to a record mark of 73-21 percent lead over Mitt Romney - The new 52-point margin

The Failure of the Racist Plutocracy and Social Darwinism that Romney and Ryan are offering for America among Latino Voters. This happens as they become knowledgeable of the Romney Hypocrisy of pandering to Latinos at the same time that he wants to kick 12 million Latinos out of the USA by the most despicable method of "Self-Deportation".

Mitt Romney has also said that "Arizona is a model for the nation" in the treatment of Latinos. And that he would repeal the "DREAM ACT" that favors people that were brought to the USA as Children and know no other nation and probably no other language different from English.

And has been in bed with the worst racists of America that are his supporters or part of his campaign : Jan Brewer, Pete Wilson, Kris Kobach, Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce and the most Racist ( Republican ) Elements of the U. S. Congress.

There was never a U. S. Politician so much disliked by the Latino Voters.


The Hill
Poll: Obama's lead with Latinos jumping to historic high
By Cameron Joseph
October 1, 2012


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/259581-poll-obamas-lead-with-latinos-jumps-to-historic-high


Some excerpts :


President Obama holds a 73-21 percent lead over Mitt Romney among Latino voters, a new high-water mark for the president.

The new 52-point margin represents a high watermark for Obama in the weekly tracking poll from Latino Decisions, and is a significant jump from the 65-26 percent advantage he held six weeks ago.

Romney has failed to make inroads despite a push at the GOP convention to highlight Hispanic Republicans, while Latino voters who have tuned in during the period shortly before and since the conventions have mostly gravitated towards Obama.

Obama is polling a higher percentage in the poll than the 67 percent of the Latino vote he won four years ago, when GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won 31 percent, according to exit polls.

Romney himself said at a private fundraiser earlier this year that his campaign was "doomed" if it couldn't make inroads with Hispanic voters, who make up a significant — and fast-growing — chunk of the population in key swing states including Florida, Nevada and Colorado.

********************

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP