Want Our Vote? Be Respectful to Latinos

Those anti-immigrant politicians who won elections may feel they were right but in the long run they will be very wrong.  They are banking on many second generation Latinos voting against immigrant reform.  Only thing is, the politicians forget that many Latino families are "mixed" - there are newly immigrated members along with long time U.S. citizen families.  Others, whose families have been here a long time are just as educated and informed as many well educated Anglos and lean towards being Progressive.....  

For the most part, Latinos who are anti-immigrant are somewhat less educated, second or third generation and are often Tea Party types with brown skin, who do not feel so secure about their position in society and want to make sure they don't get mistaken for those unwanted who just arrived.

While Harry Reid was criticized for uselessly bringing up the DREAM Act vote just before the election, you can bet he had his sights set on the Latino Vote he would have come voting day.  He was right.  He won the election -while everyone was saying he was going to lose.

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Editorial

The Power of the Hispanic Voter

Published: November 22, 2010

Democrats were hurt in the midterm election by low turnouts or faltering support from voters who were young, black or female. But overwhelming support from Hispanic voters appears to have helped elect Democratic senators in Nevada, California, Colorado and possibly Washington State. Hispanic voters may have kept the Senate in Democratic hands.


Several Hispanic Republicans were also elected, including two governors, Brian Sandoval of Nevada and Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and a senator, Marco Rubio of Florida. But, over all, Hispanics voted at a rate of 2 to 1 for Democrats, according to several polls, and many were stirred to action by viciously anti-immigrant ads or comments made by Republican candidates.


Eligible Hispanic voters represent about 9 percent of the national electorate, a slight increase over previous years, but the percentages are much higher in the West, climbing to 22 percent in California. They are less predictably partisan than other ethnic groups and the two major parties have long contested for their votes. Early polls had suggested that many were disappointed in both parties for failing to act on immigration reform, and it appeared that they might sit out the midterms......more