If you think that the most important issue to Latino voters in this presidential election is immigration -think again. It’s the economy, estúpido!
Like non-Hispanic Americans, the nation’s current financial crisis tops the list of issues that most concerns Latinos. One indication why the country’s fiscal woes are so worrisome to Latinos may be foreclosures. Out of the more 800,000 Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure in 2008, 372,000 of them were Latinos, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.
However, it’s not just the economy that tops the list of concerns – the war, education and healthcare also rank high, according to various studies by the Pew Hispanic Center.
And while immigration may not make the top three issues of concern to Latino voters, it’s not a matter that these voters, crucial in battleground states, are necessarily discounting.
“In many ways, immigration is like a litmus test,” explains Maria Teresa Petersen, the cofounder of Voto Latino, a national voter registration organization based out of Washington, DC. “If Latinos see that a candidate is friendly on immigration, then he or she gets a pass and they start listening to how they are going to fix the economy, bring down gas prices, end the war, get better healthcare and so on,” she explains.
But according to Petersen, neither Republican John McCain nor Democrat Barack Obama has closed the deal when it comes to explaining their Latino platform.
“Both candidates have struggled to deliver their messages to Latinos,” says Petersen, “and this presidential election is going to be won locally.”
According to Petersen, McCain has done a better job at targeting issues important to voters in specific regions. (In Florida for instance, a big issue is the defeat of Cuba’s Fidel and Raul Castro regime, so McCain used an ex-POW from the Bay of Pigs in one of his radio ads. Sen. Obama, on the other hand, scores high with Latinos with his universal health plan. )
In New York, the economy, education and healthcare rank higher than relations with Cuba’s Fidel Castro do. In California, Arizona and Nevada, the issue is the housing crisis (foreclosures in those states are upwards of 300,000).
“The difference in the last presidential election was 2 million votes,” says Petersen. So when you consider that 18 million Latinos are eligible, that is not a number you ignore.
Since January, Voto Latino has registered 25,000 new voters, the bulk of them under 29 years of age. And next week, the organization plans to release its last get-out-the-vote PSA starring Rosario Dawson, a cofounder of Voto Latino, as well as actors Wilmer Valderrama, Tony Plana, and list of surprise cameo appearances.
According to Voto Latino, Latinos will be critical to this election, in some parts more than others because many live in battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Nevada.
“In New Mexico alone, a state that has gone red in past presidential elections, the Latino electorate is 38 percent,” she says.