Latino voters and these times
June 11 2016 By Abiodun Giwa
It is not a new reality that the Latino voters have become an important aspect of the United States democratic elections as deciders of which political party presidential candidate becomes the next president.
According to a publication by the British Broadcasting Corporation on its website, George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Latino votes in the 2000 presidential election and became the president.
On the other hands, John McCain won 31 percent of the Latino votes in 2008 and lost the election, while Mitt Romney did worse in 2012 - won 22 percent of the Latino votes and also lost the election.
The above data from three elections show that the Republican Party's performance with the Latino voters has dropped and that there is a need to improve on the last two performances for the party to be able to pull through the next presidential election. The awareness by the party establishment of the need for it to work to improve the party's performance with Latino voters may have informed its disagreement with Donald Trump, the party's presumptive nominee in the just concluded primary elections.
One fact the party's establishment may not have realized is that Trump did not cause the party's misfortune concerning the poor performance with the Latino voters. The establishment may also not have realized that Latino voters may have chosen to cast their lot with the Democratic Party and that the only one pragmatic approach open to the party is to seek areas it can improve the party's performance, while it maps out future strategy to woo Latino voters for the future.
One of such pragmatic approach is allying with its presumptive nominee to aggressively pursue Trump's immigration policy to build a wall on the United States and the Mexico border to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants as a way to attract voters from other voting blocs that are against the Democratic Party's policy of allowing an open border that encourages inflow of undocumented immigrants. Why should the party forgo convincing Latino voters and use the Democratic Party's negative immigration policy to win voters from other Americans?
In 2012 general elections between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, I had a discussion with a Latino friend about possibility of Romney picking Marco Rubio as vice presidential candidate to get a sizeable Latino voters. My Latino friend told me that Latino voters don't vote Republican Party and that any decision by Romney to pick Rubio would not work, because according to him, Latino voters are for the Democratic Party. It is not the purpose of this piece to list reason for the Latino voters' choice of the Democratic Party, but to see what the Republican Party can do to work around its current situation with the Latino voters to turn its political fortune around.
Obviously, the party has consecutively lost two presidential elections, because its Latino votes have been dropping rather than increasing. It would not make any sense to lie to voters, because of the need to win their votes. By addressing the core immigration problem and the need to arrest it is residing with the truth, and rather than for the party to allow it to divide its rank and file, the party should rally round the strength of the immigration policy truth.
The party may discuss vigorously with Trump the unworkable idea of banning Muslims from temporarily coming into the country as a way of limiting terror attacks. The most the party can do at this time is rally round its nominee, rather than allow individual members to pursue their different political fortune at the expense of the party's corporate interest, all because of disagreement with Trump.
If the party allows the bickering in its fold to continue with a situation of the speaker of the House of Representative speaking from both sides of his mouth accusing the party's nominee of a non existing racism and at the same time saying he is supporting him against Clinton, Mitt Romney running his momentarily running his mouth against the party's nominee. It is time for the party to unite and gain from the increased number of new voters that the party turned during the just concluded primaries.
Another decision the party and its nominee should consider is picking Ben Carson as vice presidential candidate for the party to be able to contests fiercely for the African American voters. If Latino voters have gone with the Democratic Party, there is still room for the Republican Party to seek the attention of the African Americans, most of who have said that the voting bloc has gain little or nothing from the Obama's presidency.
And given the trouble of the definition of marriage that has been turned upside down by the current government, it is possible for the Republican Party to discuss with voters, the passionate reason for Evangelicals among the Latinos and other blocs to vote for the Republican Party. One thing the party's establishment cannot foreclose is the possibility of voters going in support of Trump, the way they have shown during the primaries, if the rancor in the party continues.
And know that the same miraculous Trump victory is not incapable of happening in the general elections, regardless of the liberal media and the enemies of Trump's massive opposition.
According to a publication by the British Broadcasting Corporation on its website, George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Latino votes in the 2000 presidential election and became the president.
On the other hands, John McCain won 31 percent of the Latino votes in 2008 and lost the election, while Mitt Romney did worse in 2012 - won 22 percent of the Latino votes and also lost the election.
The above data from three elections show that the Republican Party's performance with the Latino voters has dropped and that there is a need to improve on the last two performances for the party to be able to pull through the next presidential election. The awareness by the party establishment of the need for it to work to improve the party's performance with Latino voters may have informed its disagreement with Donald Trump, the party's presumptive nominee in the just concluded primary elections.
One fact the party's establishment may not have realized is that Trump did not cause the party's misfortune concerning the poor performance with the Latino voters. The establishment may also not have realized that Latino voters may have chosen to cast their lot with the Democratic Party and that the only one pragmatic approach open to the party is to seek areas it can improve the party's performance, while it maps out future strategy to woo Latino voters for the future.
One of such pragmatic approach is allying with its presumptive nominee to aggressively pursue Trump's immigration policy to build a wall on the United States and the Mexico border to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants as a way to attract voters from other voting blocs that are against the Democratic Party's policy of allowing an open border that encourages inflow of undocumented immigrants. Why should the party forgo convincing Latino voters and use the Democratic Party's negative immigration policy to win voters from other Americans?
In 2012 general elections between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, I had a discussion with a Latino friend about possibility of Romney picking Marco Rubio as vice presidential candidate to get a sizeable Latino voters. My Latino friend told me that Latino voters don't vote Republican Party and that any decision by Romney to pick Rubio would not work, because according to him, Latino voters are for the Democratic Party. It is not the purpose of this piece to list reason for the Latino voters' choice of the Democratic Party, but to see what the Republican Party can do to work around its current situation with the Latino voters to turn its political fortune around.
Obviously, the party has consecutively lost two presidential elections, because its Latino votes have been dropping rather than increasing. It would not make any sense to lie to voters, because of the need to win their votes. By addressing the core immigration problem and the need to arrest it is residing with the truth, and rather than for the party to allow it to divide its rank and file, the party should rally round the strength of the immigration policy truth.
The party may discuss vigorously with Trump the unworkable idea of banning Muslims from temporarily coming into the country as a way of limiting terror attacks. The most the party can do at this time is rally round its nominee, rather than allow individual members to pursue their different political fortune at the expense of the party's corporate interest, all because of disagreement with Trump.
If the party allows the bickering in its fold to continue with a situation of the speaker of the House of Representative speaking from both sides of his mouth accusing the party's nominee of a non existing racism and at the same time saying he is supporting him against Clinton, Mitt Romney running his momentarily running his mouth against the party's nominee. It is time for the party to unite and gain from the increased number of new voters that the party turned during the just concluded primaries.
Another decision the party and its nominee should consider is picking Ben Carson as vice presidential candidate for the party to be able to contests fiercely for the African American voters. If Latino voters have gone with the Democratic Party, there is still room for the Republican Party to seek the attention of the African Americans, most of who have said that the voting bloc has gain little or nothing from the Obama's presidency.
And given the trouble of the definition of marriage that has been turned upside down by the current government, it is possible for the Republican Party to discuss with voters, the passionate reason for Evangelicals among the Latinos and other blocs to vote for the Republican Party. One thing the party's establishment cannot foreclose is the possibility of voters going in support of Trump, the way they have shown during the primaries, if the rancor in the party continues.
And know that the same miraculous Trump victory is not incapable of happening in the general elections, regardless of the liberal media and the enemies of Trump's massive opposition.
