Latino Voters: Decisive in Texas, Florida and Nevada; Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz Won't Attract Latino Voters in GOP

By Alyza Katrina C. Torres (staff@latinpost.com)
First Posted: Jan 12, 2016 06:09 AM EST


LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 15: Republican presidential candidates (L-R) Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), on stage during the CNN republican presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thirteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the fifth set of Republican presidential debates. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In light of the coming elections, Latino voters have been under mixed speculations with regard to their political choices and whether they are pleased with Latino candidates like Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz. Reports also say that the Hispanics may be decisive in certain states like Texas, Florida and Nevada.

As the political battle starts between presidentiables and other senate candidates for the U.S. elections later this year, political analysts are eyeing Hispanics to be an important deciding factor in putting candidates to their seats.

"Latino voters are virtually insignificant in the primary races unless there is a split among white voters," Luis Fraga, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, told Fox News Latino.

"A lot of people are divided over who they'll vote for," Evelyn Perez-Verdia, founder of Political Pasión, explained as quoted by the publication.

Latino voters in Texas are seen to be primarily between Cruz and Donald Trump per the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Meanwhile, Democratic presidentiable Hillary Clinton is the most visible in Nevada according to the news agency,

Perez-Verdia further speculates that Rubio, who's currently second at 19.2 percent of the vote in a recent poll data from Florida Atlantic University against Donald Trump with 31.5 percent, may not have an easy journey.

"This is not going to be an easy race for Rubio, but if it comes down to him being one of the final candidates in a close race, he will win," Perez-Verdia said.

As for Cruz, the politician is viewed to be unappealing for Latinos, especially those with immigration issues. "Cruz's background does not have the appeal to voters in Texas like Marco Rubio does in Florida," Fraga said as quoted by the publication.

Furthermore, NY Mag reports that it will all boil down to Cruz and Rubio in the case of the Latinos share in the GOP votes. However, the publication speculates that Rubio repudiating his sponsorship of comprehensive immigration-reform legislation might be the cause of his loss against Cruz.

The political arena widely looks at Latino voters as they comprise a large sector in the U.S. Mexicans are two-thirds of the Latinos in the U.S., which is around 35 million people, and Cubans are the third-largest group after Puerto Ricans, with around two million people and is at 3.7 percent of the Latino vote, the Pew Research Center revealed.

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