“Today we march tomorrow we vote,” read many signs during the nationwide pro-immigration marches of 2006, and during the midterm elections in November, Democrats regained control of both the Senate and House of Representatives. But it is hard to quantify how big of an impact the Latino vote had on the elections given that most exit polls indicated that the war in Iraq was a higher priority than immigration.
Even so, one cannot ignore, according to the U.S. census, that the Latino community is the fastest growing minority group. The Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington based think tank, an estimated 17 million Latinos were eligible to vote in the 2006 November elections, an increase of over 7 percent from the 2004 elections and the increase of eligible voters for the 2008 elections is expected to be even higher.
In September, the Spanish-language Univision network and the University of Miami hosted the first ever presidential debate in Spanish, through translators, to address issues that are of particular interest to the Latino community like immigration, education, health care, national security, and foreign policies, especially in Latin America.
The Democratic candidates participated in the forum and while many of their responses were predictable and carefully orchestrated, the audiences’ reaction to their answers was mostly positive.
The number of viewers of the forum, according to the Nielsen Ratings, was 4.6 million compared to 4.3 million for the English-language debates on the other networks. In addition, the average age of the Univision forum viewer was 36 compared to 61 for the English-language debates on ABC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
The Republican candidates were scheduled to appear on this forum the following week; however, all with the exception of Sen. John McCain declined to participate. While their strategy might have been to appeal to their base by not having to tone down their anti-immigration stance, in the long run I think this was a mistake.
In general, while Latino communities are comprised of many different and distinct nationalities, they tend to be more socially conservative than most voters. They are as diverse politically as the general electorate.
I was visiting relatives in Mexico during their presidential elections last year where the conservative candidate Felipe Calder-n beat the labor friendly opponent L-pez Obrador by a margin so close it was reminiscent of our own 2000 elections between Gore and Bush. Depending with which family member I was visiting, the arguments in favor or against the candidates could be reflective of political arguments on this side of the border. My aunt told me, “I don’t know how he (Obrador) plans to pay for all those social programs.” Another cousin was sure that big business had stolen the elections.
Even on this side of the border, within my own four siblings, we cover the full political spectrum, which makes for very informative and lively family gatherings. My extended family also represents a political melting pot. I have one cousin that gained family notoriety by appearing in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 shaking Bush’s hand during one of the president’s trips to the Bay Area. While I haven’t exactly polled all my family members regarding their political party affiliation, I am certain that there are as many Republicans as there are Democrats. I’m also certain that some are disenchanted with both parties and register with a third party, such as American Independent, Libertarian, or the Green Party. When politicians refer to the “Latino Vote,” I cringe a bit, because there is no such thing as a unified way of looking at all the complexities of our political system.
As of February 2007, a report of voter registration from the California State Department shows that the total number of registered voters in Gilroy is 15,367 of which 49 percent are Democrats, 29 percent are Republicans, and 22 percent are either others or decline to state a political party. In Morgan Hill 15,586 are registered. Of those, 40 percent are Democratic, 37 percent are Republican, and the remaining 23 percent are either other political parties or decline to state.
Since February of 2005, the report also shows that the total number of registered voters compared to eligible voters has declined statewide from 73.9 percent to 68.9 percent. So regardless of one’s political affiliation, apathy is the enemy of democracy. With outreach programs targeting new naturalized citizens and eligible youth, many new voters this upcoming election will get the chance to participate in our political process.
The “Latino Vote,” however, will be more diverse than politicians suspect.
Mario Banuelos has lived in Morgan Hill for 19 years. He has served on the South Valley Dayworker Committee and is a member of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation. He’s married and has four children. Reach him at
mb*******@ch*****.net
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