LatinaLista — Most Latino voters have been feeling ignored, dismissed and pretty much invisible to the Romney camp up to this point. Though he is considered the presumptive GOP candidate, Romney has yet to soften his tone to show that he can equally be a President for all Americans, including Latinos, rather than just be the designate candidate of the Tea Party or far-right conservatives.
Instead, he still talks about vetoing the DREAM Act, dismantling the Affordable Care Act, completing the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, having the undocumented “self-deport” and increasing the retirement age before a person can collect social security, though data shows that the wealthier live longer than the low-income.
But there is hopeful news that Romney knows he’s been neglectful of Latino voters.
At a private fundraising reception in Palm Beach recently, Mitt Romney was overheard acknowledging his weakness among Hispanic voters. If it’s not turned around, he said, “It spells doom for us.”
The doom he’s talking about has to do with electoral votes.
President Barack Obama starts the general election with a sizable electoral vote lead over Romney, looking strong in states totaling 247, while Romney has a strong edge in states totaling 191. It takes 270 to win.
And if Romney can’t narrow Obama’s considerable lead among Latino voters, key battlegrounds including Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Florida could be out of reach for the Republican nominee.
It’s an ironic situation that most Latino voters who disagree with Romney’s stand on the issues find themselves in — while they’ve been feeling ignored and dismissed by him, he’s feeling worried about not getting their votes.
It’s no wonder that at every turn Romney likes to remind Latino voters how Obama has failed us. If he can’t get Latino votes, then why not prevent Obama from getting them too?
Yet, if Latino voters fall into that trap then we are sacrificing more than just one presidential election — Latino voters are sacrificing the steady gain in political influence that has been achieved since the last presidential election.
With voting a privilege not to be ignored, Latino voters owe it to the next generation, if not ourselves, to vote for the candidate who can lead the entire nation — and remember Latinos are part of that mix.
Comment(4)
AndreaMerida
This is an interesting point to consider. Personally, I’m thinking very hard about sitting out the presidential portion of my ballot, because I don’t want to reward this president for his complete “fracaso” over immigration and public education policy…not to mention his cave-in to Wall Street. However, if we really can bring home a large number of votes, for once, we really will be able to roar. This is a very compelling argument.
Matthew Hall
Romney doesn’t believe what he’s saying now more than what he’s said before. He doesn’t think that it would be ‘doom’ and he’s right. “latinos’ are divided politically and won’t break 9 percent of the popular vote. What’s more they will only have influence in a few states and will be irrelevant in the rest. We don’t have national elections, we have 50 state elections. If the democrats can win without latinos in California, as they can for example, they won’t care what lations in Califoria want. This is just so much hype and PR by a self-appointed elite seeking to follow devisive identity politics. They will fail,
Morning NewsTaco | NewsTaco
[…] political trap Latino voters need to be wary of (Latina Lista): Most Latino voters have been feeling ignored, dismissed and pretty much invisible to the Romney […]
Ruben Castilla Herrera
I don’t really put much heed into the Republicans and Romney in particular, we know where they stand. It’s the President, the Democrats and so called “Progressives” that we need t o keep pushing and holding accountable. That’s the number one rule I am following as an organizer and activist for Immigrant rights and the DREAMAct. I will remain focused on this and do all that I can to push the President. and the Democrats. He can start by ending SECURE COMMUNITIES (which you fail to mention in this piece)..My job is not to re-elect the president. However, I think voting is critical. This is the first time my life as a Democrat that I am considering becoming an Independent and looking at a 3rd party candidate. In the end, Democrats and Republicans answer to the same ma$ter.