Why Hispanics Are Natural Democrats And What The GOP Can Do About It

Super-Economy ^ | November 12, 2012 | Tino Sanandaji

[OddLane]

There has been no shortage of commentary on the impact of the Hispanic vote on the election outcome. Much of the Republican post-election commentary has focused on the failure of Romney to gather a sufficient share of Hispanic support. Much of the discussion is confused.

Two factors decide the impact of the Hispanic vote. One is the percentage of Hispanics who vote Republican. The other is how many Hispanic voters there are. Empirically, variation in numbers was far more important than variation in voting patterns.

Romney did not lose because he lost the Hispanic vote in some unusual fashion. Rather, he lost because of rising number of Hispanics. In 1992 Hispanics were two percent of voters, in 2012 ten percent of voters. If the Hispanic vote share would have been what it was in 2000, let alone 1992. Romney would have won. Romney however would not have won with the vote share Bush got among Hispanics with the current composition of the electorate.

[forgotten man]

The inscription on the Statue of Liberty should be changed to “Give me your tired huddled masses yearning for freebies.”

[GeronL]

The answer is definitely not to pander

[Slump Tester]

Here's something they've yet to do - Hammer the rats good and hard on abortion. If they were hammered properly, we'd get the Catholics AND most of the hispanics.

Hammer them hard on gay marriage too. Hispanics don't like faggots either.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Can be summed up in two words: free stuff

[shhrubbery!]

Yes, we have long been fed a rosy scenario that Hispanics are "natural conservatives," due to being Catholic, pro-family, pro-life, hard workers etc.

I wish I could still believe that, but I don't. Too many illegals were allowed to flood our country, and have been bought off by the Dems already.

Thus the majority of Hispanics are already committed Dems and will not change this voting habit, even if our side does a good job explaining why our traditional free enterprise system was better than the current welfare state.

[skeeter]

Thanks to democrat efforts over the years most non-whites feel its their duty to vote against the republican party.

The charge the GOP is too white is the biggest 'dog whistle' ever devised.

[OddLane]

I agree.

The only thing pandering will do is hasten the demise of The Stupid Party

[cizinec]

As I posted elsewhere, the culture has a different view of government. When in power, take all you can for yourself. You are the law.

That is NOT our system. These people are the political losers in their home countries. Now they are using the SEIU and others to take over our system to turn it into THEIR corrupt system.

[DesertRhino]

The truth is that they come from a infantile culture where some rich, powerful, monarch or one sort or another leads them around by the nose.

They got the worst of europes government style. Between Austrian monarchs, the Spanish, the Catholic church in earlier eras that justified these monarchs, etc,, the Mexicans simply do not have a tradition of the individual being empowered to rule the government.

Hundreds of years of experience tells them they should be ruled over. With a vote, they select the one that will be a good parent for the child they emotionally are.

[tallyhoe]

Give all Hispanics free cable, free TV’s, Free Ipads!!!

[Dilbert San Diego]

The whole idea of identity politics is hurting the GOP and conservatives.

The narrative is that anybody who is allegedly some oppressed minority should vote Democrat.

This includes any with some grievance, including black, Hispanic, Asian, young people, girls worried about birth control, enviro extremists, poor people, single mothers, you name it.

The liberals are running with the narrative that so many people are victims, and that these victims should vote Democrat.

The ugly truth is that Democrats have no solutions to problems. The liberals bitch about who is to blame for this and that, but don’t offer any constructive solutions to the alleged problems. And the icing on the cake is that we’re all victims somehow.

[Dr. Ursus]

White liberals are fools if they think that Hispanics and
Blacks are going to allow them to rule them,when they become a majority.

[familyop]

Hispanics are generally far more morally conservative than most other American demographic groups. Moral conservatism hasn’t been implemented in politics for several decades. For example, over 3 decades of feminism and homosexualism pushed in politics by both parties.

[TheRobb7]

Agreed.

Dear God, give us an elected official who will get in front of a camera and ask the following question:

“Who gets to decide which unborn babies deserve the death penalty?”

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

The GOP promised jobs. The Dems promised handouts.
The GOP ran a proven job creator. The Dems ran a community organizer.

While I don’t doubt for a moment that there was massive vote fraud—especially in the inner city areas that have no bipartisan oversight-—I do feel the republic is doomed. Going straight down the toilet. In ancient Rome, first in the latter stages of the old republic, then during the empire, politicians and emperors bought off the urban masses (most of whom did not work) with free stuff-—free food, free grain, free spectacles in their great stadiums. We’ve seen this story before. We have not really progressed since then. Welcome to hell. Welcome to the jungle. Our limited government constitutional republic first came under assault during the Woodrow Wilson Administration. Then the New Deal basically killed it off. Now we have Obama in there essentially following the footsteps of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Take over the key industries. Redistribute wealth. Make most people dependent on the government. Throw in some vote rigging in the one-party inner city districts and precincts. That’s how Chavez stays in power. That’s how Obama stays in power. The work ethic is gone. It’s all about the free stuff. The DJIA is now down over 100 points again. I can’t believe how many stupid morons live in this country.

[The Toll]

Not all of us. I’m a straight white male. I don’t get victim status. EVER!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Oh gimme a break they are natural democrats because they come from a socialist country where socialism does not work because the goodies can’t come fast enough or plentiful enough and if you complain your beloved Government see’s that you become a vapor or threaten you into silence whats not understood is that when they transfer that political power to a freedom structure freedom is no more how can you not see the very thing you are running from {poverty and oppression} follow them here with their votes for more goodies paid for by the very folks who are more than anxious to give wages to a person who would work for less wages than normal just to boost the bottom line

It’s not just the illegal perpetrating these socialist acts but the employer who is looking to cheat the government out of revenue who is also dragging the dead carcass of socialism whith it to the future ......

[CedarDave]

The answer is definitely not to pander.

Correct. I'll post again what I posted on a couple of threads following the re-election of Steve Pearce in NM-2. It will amaze readers who haven't seen it:

In New Mexico, Congressional district 2 occupies the southern half of the state. The boundary is a slightly WNW-ESE line south of the I-40 corridor (south of Gallup, ABQ, Santa Rosa, Clovis). Republican registration is 34%. The area includes lots of Latino voters, the oil and gas fields, Mexican border counties and rural ranchers.

Tea-party conservative Steve Pearce won re-election with 59.2% of the vote not only in the oil patch but in most counties too (The Democratic candidate was Evelyn Madrid Erhard). I'm not sure of his secret (besides hard work) but the GOPe needs to emulate this for future victories.

Democratic counties and percentages:

• Bernalillo 45-54
• Cibola 49-50
• Dona Ana 47-52
• Grant 48-51
• Guadalupe 44-55
• Luna 49-50
• McKinley 49-50

Republican counties and percentages:

• Catron 74-25
• Chaves 68-31
• DeBaca 72-27
• Eddy 67-32
• Hidalgo 60-39
• Lea 79-20
• Lincoln 71-27
• Otero 65-33
• Roosevelt 79-19
• Sierra 64-35
• Socorro 56-42
• Valencia 56-42

One more thing -- Lea, Eddy and Chaves counties make up SE NM Oil Patch - jobs are plentiful, "help wanted" signs everywhere, and skills bring a premium salary and benefits. These folks vote to protect their jobs and are rightfully wary of what Obama will do to shut down their livelihood.

On the other hand majority-Hispanic counties in NM-3 (from District 1 due-north to the Colorado border) voted 79%-83% for the Democratic candidate, Ray Lujan. They have been the recipient of years of government largesse, especially since the rabid enviros in Santa Fe and elsewhere shut down mining, lumbering and other natural resource extraction. Interestingly, the Navajo's in the four-corners region did not necessarily vote for the Dems as many are employed in coal mining or as power plant workers. They, too, realize their jobs are on the line as a result of a second-term Obama administration.

[sitetest]

Self-ping.