WSJ: Hispanic Growth Shapes 2012 Race
By Shaun Kenney | Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 | PolicyToday’s Wall Street Journal offers a pretty stark picture concerning the Hispanic vote:
Over time, Hispanics also will change the politics of the Republican strongholds of Georgia, where the Hispanic population nearly doubled over the last decade, and even deep-red Texas, where 38% of the population now is Hispanic. Fun fact: The second most popular name for a baby boy born in Texas last year was Jose.
The obvious question, then, is what the two parties’ relative strengths and weaknesses are among Hispanics. Democrats have the historic and more natural appeal: They are the party with a far larger share of minorities in its base, and the party that champions social programs important to many low-income Hispanics. The Democrats’ mainstream position on an immigration overhaul—more open, for example, to paving a path to citizenship for illegal aliens who have been working and paying taxes for a long period—has given them a more friendly feel to many Hispanics.
Yet the problem for Democrats is that they haven’t turned this hospitable population into the kind of electoral force it might be; the 31.2% of eligible Hispanics who voted in 2010 compares to 48.5% among whites, according to a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center. Moreover, it is possible a recent Obama administration crackdown on illegal aliens in the workplace could engender a backlash.
To them, Republicans’ message will be two-fold: Jobs are the most important issue to Hispanics, and we are the job-creating party, and Republicans share the conservative social values predominant in the Hispanic community.
Sure am glad we’re not taking a natural fit for the GOP and giving this demographic reasons to push away from a free market, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-family platform…
Of course, trying to box in the Hispanic vote as a monolith and lean them towards one party or the other is grossly simplistic and detrimental, IMHO. For the record, there is nothing more I despise in politics more than the politics of race. All this having been said, those with pro-family and entrepreneurial values should be welcomed with open arms into the GOP fold.
Short-sighted efforts to drive them away? Well… there’s a party for heavy-handed government. And it’s certainly not the Republican Party.
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Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
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4 Responses to "WSJ: Hispanic Growth Shapes 2012 Race"
Shaun,
I could not agree with you more. Trying to stereotype Hispanics as a single voting block is like trying to stereotype all whites of European descent as a single block. It is absolutely idiotic. South Florida is a case in point. Compare the recent-arrival Haitians with the third generation Cubans and try to find commonality in political alliance. As for Texas, there are Hispanic families who were settled there for generations before Sam Houston and his friends arrived. I can assure you that they are not Democrats.
Politically stereotyping ethnic groups is a form of nativist bigotry. There are far more socioeconomic differences between the Democratic and Republican bases then there are ethnic, the limo liberals and Obama’s guns ‘n God Republicans notwithstanding.
Excellent comments, Shaum and HisRoc. Unfortunately, the GOP does have, in recent years, a stronger appeal for the nativist types. (By this I don’t mean opposing illegal immigration.) We have been the party of Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo, and some of our own mainstream commentators like Michelle Malkin pal around with your friendly neighborhood nativists of VDARE.
As a conservative, Latino voter (which I never let define who I am), I can at least see why some Latinos who would be receptive to our message, might be intimidated at times.
We need more Tito the Builder types haha.
Wow, Bearing Drift is so educational. I didn’t realize Hatians were Hispanic, even though I did realize they were from the island of Hispania.
It is difficult for conservatives who “vote against their own interests” (as some liberals say) to win over any low income groups when those low income groups can vote for people who are promising to give them something. But it seems that in Texas Republicans do well enough, so principles must have some influence.
JZ,
Thank you for the compliment; I’m glad that as a BD poster I could enlighten you.
Haitians are as diverse as the United States itself. The population includes descendants of African slaves, native Indians (Arawaks), French settlers who arrived prior to 1763, and later Spanish settlers. Since their island is called Hispaniola (not Hispania), they are considered Hispanics, or Latin Americans of Spanish origin.
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