“(In my estimation, 38 percent is nothing to write home about — but the trend line is, at least, finally going in the right direction)”
In my opinion 38% is AWESOME. The Dems are betting their existence on Hispanics taking the place of New Deal Democrats who are rapidly dieing off (the ones that wouldn’t care if Mao came back from the dead to lead the Dems, as long as the Dems weren’t the evil Republicans). If the Hispanics can even keep up these numbers, the Dems will have to wait GENERATIONS to get their power back. There simply is not enough blacks and gays in this country to make them viable, no matter how much they try.
It means the political ground is shifting in ways yet to be discerned, but that the old identity bigotry of the Left is not going to work as well as it has in the past.
Those who would write off Hispanics because they are "Just like the black vote" are seriously in error and need very much to take a cold hard look at what is going on, and what is possible for the future.