SAN DIEGO — The midterm election is just a few weeks away and politicians know the Hispanic population is growing, making their votes more important than ever.
But history shows, when it comes to addressing their concerns, politicians often get it wrong.
Top concerns
“If you talk to almost any politician, you would think that immigration is the only issue that we care about,” said Gary Acosta, CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. Acosta says, in reality, immigration isn't even a top five concern for Latino voters right now. And a recent poll from Unidos US and Mi Familia Vota supports that.
“Inflation certainly is number one, health care is among those, and gun violence,” said Clarissa Martinez with Unidos US. She also says, for the first time ever, abortion is a top concern with 3/4ths of those surveyed saying that regardless of their personal beliefs, they think it's wrong to make abortion illegal.
“Because this is a community that believes very strongly in family, faith and country, this assumption has been that Latinos are against abortion, or are divided, well that hasn't been true before the Supreme Court decision, nor is it true now,” Martinez said.
School safety
The school shooting in Uvalde is also mobilizing the Latino voting base, which lists gun violence as their number two concern after inflation. They want school safety and mental health programs, but too many politicians are going in an entirely different direction. “We have some politicians trying to make headlines by talking the approach of putting a gun in every had basically,” Martinez said. “Hispanics don't agree with that approach.”
Toxic rhetoric
Martinez also says that while immigration is not a top issue right now for Latinos, politicians creating a toxic immigration environment is always a concern.
“When there is this toxic rhetoric - demonizing Latino immigrants - somebody who looks at you from across the street doesn't know if you're an undocumented citizen or not and those stereotypes and that antagonism tends to play out in any case,” Martinez said.
But Latino leaders know that things won't change if their community doesn't vote. UCLA's Latino Policy and Politics Institute says in the 2020 election. turnout of registered voters in San Diego was 81.2 %. But for Latinos, that number dropped to just 71.1%. By comparison, White voter turnout was 85.7%.
Gary talked about that very issue with former President Barack Obama at the L'Attitude convention in San Diego last month. Mr. Obama's response? “If you're a community that doesn't vote at the same numbers as other segments of the population, your issues are not going to rise to the top,” Gary said. “They're not going to get done. That was his point.”
Lack of enthusiasm
And that leads to this concern: There is not a lot of excitement over November's election so leaders fear Latino turnout will be low. But they say, in reality, this election is extremely important. “State and local elected leaders sometimes have a bigger impact on our daily lives than somebody at the presidential level,” Martinez said.
The bottom line, Latino voters can make a big difference in elections, but they have to go to the polls in higher percentages. And those voters tend to be socially liberal, but fiscally conservative, making them open to both major parties and to candidates who are truly listening to their concerns. As Acosta put it, “We want both parties to work to earn our votes.”
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