The GOP has less to fear from a Latino backlash than some claim, says Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In a new article, he says those who have warned of impending doom haven't looked very closely at the Hispanic electorate.
His argument is not that there's good news for Republicans, but rather that the news was bad even before the immigration debate (for daily news and updates on the issue, see our new Immigration Blog), and that the debate isn't likely to change the minds of many Hispanic voters for the worse.
That's partly because President Bush's success among Hispanic voters was exaggerated in 2004 (and besides, it was never clear his success would translate to the rest of the party anyway) and partly because Hispanic voters list plenty of other issues above immigration when asked what is most important to win their vote.
Immigration-rights groups aligned with Democrats say the difference is last year's mass marches, and this year's immigration bill. They say they have succeeded in focusing Hispanic voters' minds on immigration, and are also making headway in getting legal residents to become citizens and to register to vote.
Either way, it will be a year before we know for sure.
-- Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (3)
I have recently come to believe that politicians fail to develop true passion for issues because they are so "concerned" with the passions of their constituents, hampering a real election of a real candidate. It is imperative to try to understand how polls and headlines and "created passions" have come to undermine true dialogue and real examination of issues. This may turn out to be the reason for the disillusionment in the political process and for the danger our American way of life is currently railing against.
Posted by Sylvester | October 22, 2007 11:59 PM
Republicans could always rely on Hispanic conservative family values and respect for male-dominated culture. Texans made good political panderers to Mexicans because they shared common values. Now the Hispanics have become sophisticated enough to have it both ways: They still seek Republican acceptance as the non-black majority minority, while at the same time they are seeking to support Democratic-socialists who extol the expansion of the welfare state and a "no boundaries internationalist" border perspective which winks at Castro and Chavez while pretending that Hillary and Nancy with Barrack in tow, offer more lucid world views for constructive diplomacy and national security in 2008. Get a clue, they don't.
Posted by Ralph W. Conner | October 23, 2007 1:06 PM
We want the 'Parasites" out. I think the election will be based on that. The Hispanic vote is inconsequential. We are still the majority in this country and over 70% of us say "We are fed up with illegal aliens!!!"
Posted by Melody Kiley | October 23, 2007 2:15 PM