Professors Discuss Increasing Importance of Latino Vote

The Notre Dame Conference Center hosted a discussion on Wednesday called “American Politics in the 21st Century: The Latino Vote and the 2014 Elections.”  It was presented by the Building Bridges Lecture Series, the Institute for Latino Studies and the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy.

Professor David Campbell introduced the speakers and spoke about how “there’s always a narrative” after an election season, and that after the 2012 presidential election the narrative was “the Latino vote.”

The panelists were Michael Jones-Correa, a professor in Government from Cornell University, Ricardo Ramirez from Notre Dame’s Political Science department and Sophia Wallace of Rutgers University.  The moderator was Notre Dame Political Science Professor Christina Wolbrecht.

Ramirez opened the talk with a PowerPoint slide that showed a picture of a Time magazine cover that read, “Why Latinos will Pick the Next President.”  Between 1991 and 2011, more than one-third of the 13 million new U.S. citizens were Latinos.  Texas has the highest proportion of Latinos at 46 percent, while California and Arizona follow closely behind.

Ramirez also mentioned that, in the most recent presidential election especially, candidates used Spanish language media to spread campaign messages.  An important demographic characteristic of Latino voters is youth, as evidenced by the fact that “60 percent of today’s Latino electorate weren’t around in 1990.”  Ramirez said that the most effective mobilization of Latinos in the previous presidential election was through voter registration drives sponsored by groups that are not affiliated with a political party.

The importance of the Latino vote in local, state and congressional races was also emphasized during discussion.  The panelists focused on the idea that in many of these elections, the margin of victory could be small enough that a united Latino vote could decisively swing the election one way or the other.  There are several areas of the country where this could make a difference in 2014, including right here in northern Indiana.

Jones-Correa spoke about the two party system and views on Latinos in terms of demographic trends.  He said that “there’s a worry among Republicans” because the majority of Latino votes go to the Democratic Party.  Wallace backed this up with the fact that 70 percent of Latinos voted for Obama in 2012.  Ricardo mentioned that this high rate of voting for Democrats is prevalent among Asian-Americans and African-Americans as well due to a “racialized identity and shared experience of discrimination.”

Jones-Correa continued by noting the temptation for Democrats to sit back and relax, thinking that Latino support is a given.  He also spoke about the influx of Latinos into the southeastern U.S. in recent years.  This has made many states more supportive of the Democratic Party, with North Carolina and Florida serving as specific examples.

Wallace began by discussing the reasons people have for voting.  She said that education, the economy, health care, national defense and immigration are always key issues.  “Right now, immigration is the number one issue that Latinos put on the agenda,” said Wallace.  This is due to the personal of the subject for Latinos, as so many have a friend, neighbor or family member who has been affected by enforcement laws, removal or deportation.

Immigration reform is an important issue for the 2014 elections.  Professor Wallace said, “We haven’t had comprehensive immigration reform, and people are frustrated, so that might mobilize them.”  She also mentioned that some Republicans are discussing whether to maintain or change their views on immigration reform because the support of a large demographic (Latino voters) “hinges on the handling of the immigration issue.”

Wallace also noted that people have seen a dramatic rise in the number of deportations during the Obama Presidency, but that this has not and likely will not deter Latinos from voting Democrat.  When asked if Obama might use his executive power to get some reform passed without congressional support, Wallace said, “He believes that [immigration reform] is something that should come from Congress.”

Freshman James Pratt was pleasantly surprised with the talk.  He said, “A lot more interesting than I expected, the conference helped me as a student to better understand the significance of the Latino vote in America.  I especially noted the reasons for the general agreement among the speakers that the Latino vote is mainly influenced by immigration policies, something that we discussed in my Public Policy and Politics class on Tuesday of this week.”

Sophomore Lauren Crawford is a Psychology major and E.S.S. minor from Howard Hall.  She said, “I went to the event because I thought it sounded interesting and especially relevant to me as a Latina.  I think it was relevant to everyone though, especially when the issue of immigration was discussed.  That’s definitely an issue that can’t be ignored and the panelists made a point of that at the lecture.  I’m glad because that’s an issue that’s very important to me and many others!”

Kenny Zesso, a sophomore Economics major from Keough Hall, stated, “The presentation was interesting, thoughtful, and provided an honest picture of the growing importance of the Latino voting population.  As each of the speakers clearly noted, this population will have a strong influence on the future of American politics.  The question now is, ‘How?’”