Why Hispanics Don’t Vote for Republicans

The call for Republicans to discard their opposition to immigration amnesty will grow deafening in the wake of President Obama’s victory. Hispanics supported Obama by a margin of nearly 75 percent to 25 percent, and may have provided important margins in some swing states. If only Republicans relented on their Neanderthal views regarding the immigration rule of law, the message will run, they would release the inner Republican waiting to emerge in the Hispanic population.

If Republicans want to change their stance on immigration, they should do so on the merits, not out of a belief that only immigration policy stands between them and a Republican Hispanic majority. It is not immigration policy that creates the strong bond between Hispanics and the Democratic party, but the core Democratic principles of a more generous safety net, strong government intervention in the economy, and progressive taxation. Hispanics will prove to be even more decisive in the victory of Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, which raised upper-income taxes and the sales tax, than in the Obama election.

And California is the wave of the future. A March 2011 poll by Moore Information found that Republican economic policies were a stronger turn-off for Hispanic voters in California than Republican positions on illegal immigration. Twenty-nine percent of Hispanic voters were suspicious of the Republican party on class-warfare grounds — “it favors only the rich”; “Republicans are selfish and out for themselves”; “Republicans don’t represent the average person”– compared with 7 percent who objected to Republican immigration stances.

I spoke last year with John Echeveste, founder of the oldest Latino marketing firm in southern California, about Hispanic politics. “What Republicans mean by ‘family values’ and what Hispanics mean are two completely different things,” he said. “We are a very compassionate people, we care about other people and understand that government has a role to play in helping people.”

And a strong reason for that support for big government is that so many Hispanics use government programs. U.S.-born Hispanic households in California use welfare programs at twice the rate of native-born non-Hispanic households. And that is because nearly one-quarter of all Hispanics are poor in California, compared to a little over one-tenth of non-Hispanics. Nearly seven in ten poor children in the state are Hispanic, and one in three Hispanic children is poor, compared to less than one in six non-Hispanic children. One can see that disparity in classrooms across the state, which are chock full of social workers and teachers’ aides trying to boost Hispanic educational performance.

The idea of the “social issues” Hispanic voter is also a mirage. A majority of Hispanics now support gay marriage, a Pew Research Center poll from last month found. The Hispanic out-of-wedlock birth rate is 53 percent, about twice that of whites.

The demographic changes set into motion by official and de facto immigration policy favoring low-skilled over high-skilled immigrants mean that a Republican party that purports to stand for small government and free markets faces an uncertain future.

Many immigrant groups should be easy targets for Republican candidates who can campaign with a populist theme. I have a number of Spanish-speaking immigrants who have married into my extended family, and there is a trend I've noticed with them and their families. This is a fairly typical "time line" of their voting patterns.

1. Madre and Padre are immigrants from [insert name of Latin American country here]. They come to the U.S., work hard and raise their family as good American citizens.

2. They both vote Democratic because someone (minister, friend, family member who immigrated previously, host of Spanish-language radio or TV station, etc.) tells them that Republicans are evil, rich white men who hate Hispanics.

3. Their kids grow up in this climate and in American public schools, and are reliable Democratic voters from the age of 18 into their early 20s. Their peers/classmates from the public schools are no different.

4. Their kids become gainfully employed in skilled trades or professional fields in their mid-20s and start paying taxes. Within 1-2 short years, they've basically become "liberals who got mugged."

5. After one last Democratic vote (if even that), they begin to vote their wallets and become staunch conservatives. There are many heated arguments (in Spanish) with Madre and Padre over this.

6. Some of these adult children adopt a conservative mindset that makes Pat Buchanan look like Cesar Chavez. By this time they've left most of their "white" American-born peers and former classmates behind -- both financially and politically. By now, these adult children of immigrant parents have no patience for any able-bodied creature is not gainfully employed (white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, etc.).

7. At some point when the kids are in their 30s they have a brutally honest conversation with Madre and Padre, and tell them that they can't afford [insert "wish item" here -- e.g., vacation to so-and-so, new/bigger home, college fund for the grandchildren, etc.] because they're being taxed to death.

8. Madre and Padre see the error of their ways, become very remorseful, turn off TeleMundo, grow up, and become hard-core conservatives just like their adult children.

These are the people who are going to become part of the GOP core.

“If only Republicans relented on their Neanderthal views”

That’s as far as I read.

That's too bad. It's not her message. She a conservative authority on the ills of illegal immigration. Check the link in the story. Here's the last two paragraphs of her current essay.

"The idea of the 'social issues' Hispanic voter is also a mirage. A majority of Hispanics now support gay marriage, a Pew Research Center poll from last month found. The Hispanic out-of-wedlock birth rate is 53 percent, about twice that of whites.

"The demographic changes set into motion by official and de facto immigration policy favoring low-skilled over high-skilled immigrants mean that a Republican party that purports to stand for small government and free markets faces an uncertain future."

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