The diversity of the Latino population is never more prevalent when it comes to social and political issues most notably in this election year. Just the way we target them and market to them culturally, they are equally as diverse politically.
Although this is not a political blog by any means, I try to gather every aspect of Latinos and political representation should be one of them. In an election year such as this one, the political outcome should be encouraged by the “voto” Latino. Despite of what side of the political spectrum you are, we must all agree that our overall participation and representation as Latinos is quite small, they tend to mostly not vote because they do feel that their vote does not matter or they don’t feel connected or reached out to about their needs.
Yet, because of the 2008 Great Recession where the unemployment rate as they said in the news media “ was hemorrhaging jobs’, healthcare costs practically bankrupted you and people losing their homes to bad mortgages, immigration was not a factor ; jobs, healthcare and economy were. So Latino support for Obama grew as he somehow managed to turn it around by improving economy , the passage of healthcare ACA, which will be fully implemented in 2014, that the most critical issue of immigration was not the important factor in his re-election and Latino support.
Coincidentally, it is not immigration.
At the heart of the deportation debate, it was revealed that although Obama had accelerated deportations more than other president, they [Latino registered voters] still highly favor Obama to Romney by 63 % compared to 23%. That after Obama’s temporary halting the deportation process under the “Dream Act” which according to the same study is favored by 91% of Latinos as a path to citizenship. This practically sealed it for Obama in 2011 when Romney stated he would veto the Dream Act, without giving specifics for its replacement.
The awareness of the deportation issue is more prevalent among foreign born Hispanics. Yet, because of other social and political issues, Latinos tend to strongly favor the Democratic Party. However, in a recent Gallup poll it was estimated that 51% of Latinos have become independent voters, about half of them lean Democratic than Republican.
Finally, although both parties and candidates have steered away from this issue, Obama because of his long record of deportations and Romney because of his earlier stand in the debates on the issue will soon have to change course if they want to get the Spanish vote. Obama’s announcement to halt deportations of young adults brought to the US as children could bring up another round of ads aimed at Hispanic voters.
Depending on which group you speak to they are either highly Democratic or heavily Republican. In Florida specifically, in Central Florida, there are a large number of Puerto Ricans that lean Democratic and South Florida with Cuban – Americans that are heavily Republican. Couple that with the the other Central and South Americans totaling a large part of the Latino community.
Because of the circumstances that brought them here and the issues that affect them politically and socially, their political preference will depend on which group you ask. As a whole, Hispanics always tended to vote Democratic, yet to a Cuban American they tend to veer more for the Republican ticket and favor policies that go against democratic political ideals. It is evident as to why but in contrast many also favor and use the social programs that it also provides. It is a toss-up but on average, Cuban Americans tend to be generally conservative.
With a large concentration of Hispanics and having one dominant Cuban- American group with its opposing and more conservative beliefs usually clashes with the other more Democratic leaning Hispanics. On the other hand, the other Latino groups residing in Florida, which are Latinos of Central and South American that resent the favoritism of the Cuban immigration status and therefore are more likely to favor the policies on legal immigration such as the Dream Act.
In South Florida, discussing politics becomes a heated debate and there is definitely no room for dialogue or discussion. You are either with me or not and that does become a problem when people try to discuss certain issues or give any alternate view. You are quickly labeled and name called which is bothersome to say the least. I have made a decision to keep my views private and this blog post was just to emphasize the importance of representation because although the Hispanic market is showing great numbers for a potential business market (my target market as well) there is in the other end of the spectrum, a group that gets highly misrepresented and ignored and fall way under the radar. No matter what you believe in or your political viewpoints, there are always two sides to a story, always.
