The Perfect Storm That Could Sink Romney’s Hispanic Vote Hopes

[babylonsister]

The Perfect Storm That Could Sink Romney’s Hispanic Vote Hopes

Pema Levy
January 11, 2012, 5:26 AM


Romney may have just become the first Republican candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire — and is looking increasingly like the eventual nominee — but the primary is about to spread to the rest of the country where the Latino vote is significant. Once in the general election, that vote becomes crucial. But Romney is not on track to win over the requisite number of Latino voters, who will be key to winning swing states like Florida, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. Moreover, the Democrats may have stumbled into a neat situation that could give them an unusual boost.

In the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney made what could prove a fatal error: as president, he said, he would veto the Dream Act. Designed to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, the Dream Act is so intensely popular that it’s hard to see Romney winning 40% of Latino voters, the crucial threshold Republican pollster Matthew Dowd said Bush had to hit in order to win crucial swing states in 2004. Bush, who pushed for immigration reform, barely hit 40% and won. McCain fell short.

Before the 2010 midterm elections, Latino voters ranked immigration reform as “one of the most important issues” on election day 2010.” Throughout 2011, about 85% of Latino voters supported the Dream Act and wanted to see it passed, a series of Latino Decisions poll found. Further, 59% of Latinos said they were less likely to vote for candidate whose economic views they agreed with if they used negative rhetoric about immigrants.

In addition to a growing population in crucial swing states, the Latino community is working hard to play a big role in the 2012 election. Tuesday, in one of many efforts to mobilize the Hispanic community, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition launched an initiative in the crucial I4 corridor in Florida to register young Hispanic evangelicals to vote. In the coming months, they intend to partner with churches and colleges in key swing states moving from Florida to Ohio, then Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. There are an estimated 10 million to 11 million young Latino evangelicals, many of voting age, and they want them to vote. For this evangelical community, their top issues are not abortion or gay marriage but immigration reform, as well as poverty and education. And they’re partnering with pro-Dream Act group Campaign for an American Dream. The GOP candidates’ stance on immigration “is a political error and deeply alienating to our community,” said the Gabriel Salguero, President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. “They should reconsider their position. Any candidate who doesn’t see the writing on the wall is committing a serious, serious” error in judgment.

more...

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/after-new-hampshire-romney-will-face-hurdles-with-latino-voters.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

[LonePirate]

1. The article should not claim NJ is a swing state. It is solidly blue despite its current governor.

It correctly includes AZ in its swing state list as it is the most likely red to blue change in 2012.

[DCKit]

2. AZ, FL... where else do people retire to live the rest of their days?

If our seniors haven't figured out that the Republicants want to take away their SS and MediCare, they really don't have a clue and need to start watching more Matlock and way less Fox Snooze.

[pampango]

3. "A Republican probably can't win without about 40 percent, minimum, of the Hispanic vote..."

"A Republican probably can't win without about 40 percent, minimum, of the Hispanic and Latino vote," says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and a well-respected election prognosticator. Sabato adds that the 2008 GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, tallied only about 31 percent support from this voting bloc in his loss to Obama.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/05/immigration-a-tough-issue-for-mitt-romney

The question facing Democratic and Republican strategists alike is how gracefully Romney can perform the age-old pirouette from party primary, where one must pander to the base, to the general election, where one must pander to the center.

"He is leaving Iowa with significant primary baggage that will weigh him down in the general election," she (Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz) said, according to her prepared statement.

But experts do point to one issue where a position Romney took in the GOP primary may hurt him in the general election, and that's immigration. The former governor took one of the most conservative positions of any of the Republican candidates when he said all immigrants currently in the United States illegally--estimated to total more than 10 million--should have to return to their home countries before applying for U.S. citizenship.

As with many issues, Romney's stance on immigration during this election seems to differ from positions he's taken in the past. In 2006, while governor, Romney had said, "I don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country."

If Mitt is going to do the "piroutte" referred to in the article and somehow appeal to Hispanics, he will have to show some ballet skills that are rare among politicians.

[chelsea0011]

4. When Romney locks up the nomination, that "Dream Act" comment

will be come a beige comment along the lines of "maybe, I was to direct, but the Dream Act is something that should be looked at before a decision is made". Many of Romney's primary stances will start to become beige when the real election heats up.

[Major Hogwash]

5. Yup, Mitt's got problems once he gets out of whitebread America.

Ain't gonna be pretty, either.