Politicians in the US are courting the Latino vote. The question, even as the GOP acts like they have the Latino vote ‘buttoned up’, and the DNC relies heavily on historic voting patters: Will Latino voters move to the right or stay to the left where they have historically been? A look at Latino positions on some of the biggest GOP issues, shows little Latino support for the issues involved in the GOP’s brand of values. In the mix, both sides are making moves to woo Latino voters via the media. After the dust settles in the 2022 midterms, a clearer picture will emerge. Until then, speculation abounds.
The GOP Declares the Win! Not so Fast.
Mid July, Axios declared in their 1 big thing column, a “Seismic Shift”. They boldly declare that Democrats are becoming the party of the elite, while the Republicans are, “quietly building a multiracial coalition of working-class voters, with inflation as an accelerant.” All of this, they proclaim, “We’re seeing a political realignment in real time.”
Hold the phone. As proof of concept they point to the New York Times/Siena poll that shows Republicans and Democrats are statistically tied among Latinos. A little digging into this scenario uncovers holes the size of a bloat of Hippos. The Atlantic reports there are two dynamics at play in this claim. The first is that Trump got more Latino votes in 2020 than 2016. This dynamic conveniently leaves out Trump only garnered 35% to Biden’s 66%. The second, Biden is currently polling badly with Latinos. While both claims are true, this doesn’t add up to ‘Latinos are not happy with ‘woke’ politics and therefore the GOP better reflects Latino values’.
The GOP better reflects Latino values? Wow, now there is an assumption. An assumption that upon inspection can be seriously challenged. While Latinos do share conservative values. Take Moises Sanchez, 44, Phoenix, Arizona. He immigrate from Panama said in a New York Post article, “Hispanics, especially immigrants, come from countries where government has zero trust, zero confidence. They’re not big government fans at all. They don’t want the government to get to help them. That’s why they left their last country.” So conservative yes, with a bent towards libertarianism really. But what about the GOP version of conservative? Apparently not so much.
The Issues
In a recent PRRI study, “…one in four Hispanics said abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances.” Further, Latinos aren’t really in agreement with the recent SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe. In fact 62% of Latinos don’t agree. So all the craziness going on over restricting abortion in the US, by Republicans… women dying preventable deaths,10 year old rape victims having to travel out of state to terminate the resulting pregnancy, all this is certainly is doesnt point to Latino votes for the GOP.
So how about guns? The Atlantic, cites a Pew research study with findings that two thirds of Latinos believe gun laws should be stricter and support a ban on assault weapons as well as high capacity ammunition. They don’t agree with any of this concealed carry business either. So how does this align with GOP values?
The other big GOP issue, immigration. Things get interesting here. A PPRI study found, while Latinos don’t support radical open border policies, they overwhelmingly support, an astounding 9 out of 10, in granting citizenship to Dreamers. They don’t support the border wall, and as the Atlantic reports, “Large majorities of Latinos think undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. should be eligible for citizenship, another idea opposed by almost all House and Senate Republicans.”
Enter the Media
So all this isn’t sounding a whole like lining up with GOP values. However, as history has shown us, the truth, where the GOP is concerned, is not absolute. Think what Fox Entertainment News has done to a whole bunch of Americans. Well now, it looks like there is a Latino version on the horizon. Americano Media has launched a streaming service for Latinos, “Serving Hispanics 18 hours of Conservative Content Daily”.
They blatantly state in their press release the station is meant to inform the ever growing population of Hispanic voters. With conservative programming? Citing a recent New York Times study showing there are 22% of undecided Latino voters, they are ready to bring their GOP American values message to inform them into voting Republican.
“Americano Media will push the needle further away from the Democrats towards Republicans,” Garcia-Hidalgo, founder, chairman and chief executive of Americano Media said. With this shift, which started due to President Trump’s successful policies, Americano will make sure the Hispanic vote breaks hard to conservative values.”
This rhetoric is sounding some alarm bells. As reported in the Buenos Aires Times, Democratic strategist Evelyn Perez-Verdia, director of We Are Mas, an organization that studies Spanish-language misinformation said about Americano Media programming, “There are programs that are about more moderate conservatism, But there are others that are focused on the people who… I would call the extreme right.”
The other side, the Democrats, aren’t sitting still. As reported in Not the Bee, George Soros funded through Lakestar Finance, The Latino Media Network in the buying of 18 conservative radio stations. The deal is yet to be approved by the FCC but the financial deal is done. This is driving the GOP to madness.
The GOP’s Crocodile Tears / The DNC’s Position
Maria Flores (R), the first Latina ever elected to Congress from Texas, also the first female Mexican-born member of the House of Representatives, pulled out the playbook insisting, “[Soros is] trying to erase our values. He wants the Hispanic community to forget about God and family values, that’s what the far left wants us to do.” **Sigh. She goes on to say, “I’m calling on the Hispanic community, fight for your Abuela’s values. Fight for your parent’s values that were instilled in you, that live in us and instill those values into your kids, and into your grandkids, because this is really a battle against good versus evil, and them wanting to take everything away from us.”
All this even after Morales Rocketto, Lakestar Finance Boardmember when asked about whether the Latino Media Network would have a political bent, said, “It’s not about politics. We’re serious about serving the community, and about free speech and free expression.” At this point there is no evidence to ascertain the validity of that statement. One thing is obvious. The statement sure has a different tone than Garcia-Hidalgo’s comments about delivering the Latinos to the conservatives with Americano Media.
Conclusion
So it seems Latinos don’t agree with the GOP values around abortion, guns and immigration. The Republican playbook has proven sometimes that doesn’t matter. This seems especially true when there is a platform ready and willing to spread misinformation and untruths. So when the dust settles after 2022, the one thing we can be sure of, it will probably be surprising.
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