As a Latina, and first time voter, it is exciting to see the potential impact the Hispanic vote will have on the next presidential election. As a communicator, I am fascinated by what each candidate and what the two parties are doing – or not doing – to reach Hispanic voters. This will be more evident as I blog more and more on the upcoming elections.
The numbers, as it relates to how many tuned in to the debate broadcast Sunday in Spanish on Univision, are pretty impressive: 2.2 million viewers. In comparison the CNN YouTube debate had 2.6 million viewers.
In an earlier blog I talked about how we are not one issue voters, in other words we care about immigration but we also care about many other issues. This was reflected in the debate that covered issues including immigration, Latin American policy, Cuba-U.S. and Venezuela-U.S. relations, healthcare, education and as Maribel covered yesterday, language.
It will be interesting to see how, at the end of the day, Latinos vote. However, as someone who has worked on outreach for Latino market for years, including briefly on a state political campaign, I know it is imperative to demonstrate a commitment to the community. Research has shown that Latinos are very loyal consumers and this does translate to politics. In fact, I believe that President Bush’s effectiveness in attracting the Hispanic vote was a result of the time and energy he dedicated for years to cultivating this constituency. Today the Democrats are stepping it up to cater to Latino voters– Democrats have the first Hispanic presidential candidate, the first Hispanic campaign manager and many Latinos actively involved in the campaigns. The fact that the Republican candidates did not participate in any of the Hispanic conventions this year and have not agreed to participate in a debate on Univision is hurting the party with all Hispanics. How or will Republicans recognize the investment needed before it is too late? For now we will continue to monitor, and discuss, how the parties and candidates are reaching out to Hispanic voters.
If you are interested in learning more about the debate, there has been extensive coverage by mainstream media, including stories by Arian Campo-Flores from Newsweek and Nancy Ayala from AdWeek. There is also a great article in TIME Magazine titled ’The Republicans Flunk Spanish.’
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