Thread: Opinion: Five Ways the GOP Can Win the Latino Vote By Alfon

Opinion: Five Ways the GOP Can Win the Latino Vote

By Alfonso Aguilar
Published November 30, 2010

Latinos will be 10 percent of the national electorate in the 2012 elections. In several key states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico they will be 12 to 20 percent of all voters.

Republicans know they need a good showing with Latino voters - at least 40 percent - to win back the White House in 2012. And, while the GOP did better than expected with Latino voters in the midterms - in House races, Republican candidates received 38 percent of the Hispanic vote compared to 29 percent in '08 - Republicans still have substantial work to do to attract enough Hispanic votes to be victorious in two years.

As a Latino, and based on my experience working with the Hispanic community, I‘d like to propose five ways the GOP can win over Latino voters:

1. Talk to Latinos. It sounds pretty simple, but the truth is right now Republicans don't communicate enough with Hispanics. If you want someone to vote for you, you need to talk to them constantly and explain why your ideas are better for them and the country than those of the opposition. It's not enough to have a "Hispanic outreach" officer that talks to Spanish language media from time to time. Republican leaders themselves have to talk and meet directly, frankly and frequently with the Latino community.

2. Defend life and the family. Talking is important, but talk alone is not enough. You need to have a message that appeals to the core values and aspirations of Latinos. The good news is that Latinos are inherently conservative. They are people of faith and family. The majority of them, in fact, believe in the right to life and traditional marriage. To garner increased Latino support the GOP must continue to advance and defend the social conservative agenda.

3. Show Latinos you are pro-business and against intrusive government. Latinos are extremely entrepreneurial. They are opening business three times faster than the national average. And, contrary to what many think, they don't like big government. They've experienced in their home countries the limitations and failures of excessive government involvement in society and the economy. In their outreach to Latinos, Republicans should highlight their record of supporting small and family owned business and their belief in limited government. They should explain to them how the Democrats’ big government agenda will impose heavy burdens on business owners and entrepreneurs and limit their freedoms and opportunities through increased taxation and over-regulation.

4. Challenge the Democrats' pandering to Latinos. Democrats treat Hispanics in a very condescending way, continuously trying to make them feel like victims of the system and telling them that the only way they can get ahead is through government entitlements. Latinos today, however, come here because they aspire to achieve the American Dream. They recognize they are a demographic minority, but they don't have “a minority mentality.â€

"want to see Washington fix our dysfunctional immigration system"

The only place its dysfunctional is in enforcement and a large amount of latinos only care about flooding this country with more of their own race.

No , I don't think the repubs should suck up to them , who cares about them? For that matter who cares about me? I'm an American , nobody is going out of their way to "talk" to me , to make my life easier , Why don't they start to suck up to me?

Why does it always have to be about latinos? I'm so sick of the mentality they have that they think they are special

Why don't they suck up to you, because you can't say "Screw it, I'm going back to mexico" We're not special Superman we're just a means to an end!
Got to keep calling April's coming I can feel it!

Same ole Same BS ! If they care about our country like many minority voters do then stop advocating for Illegals from Mexico & our other Southern Neighbors and stop being seperatist.

They have to understand they are hurting American workers when they advocate for open borders. The Word Over population is not even in their vocabulary but mark my words they will be the first to scream when the USA can no longer support the continued burgeoning population and goes into a irreversible tail spin in about 20 yrs..

They will not be satisfied until the USA is just another 3rd world country like the ones they come from. They are absolutely killing the goose who laid the Golden Egg for so many Legal Immigrants and for what ? To Get THEIR Way Even Though It Will Be The Death Knell For The USA !!!!

Ok... #5 is complete bull crap advice for Republicans. See John McCain.

John McCain fought for amnesty, promised amnesty, everything under the sun and Latino voters still bailed on him for a Democrat that would provide them with more affirmative action programs and direct taxpayer resources.

W

Deal constructively with immigration. Immigration is not the only issue Latinos care about, but it's certainly one the most important to them. While they fully support strengthening border security and domestic enforcement, like the majority of Americans they want to see Washington fix our dysfunctional immigration system so that the foreign workers our economy needs can enter legally.

Foreign workers! You mean their brethren from Mexico… that's who they want to see come in. And there is nothing dysfunctional about our immigration system other than our leaders not having the backbone to enforce our laws. Why does every strategy that panders to latinos include agreeing to some sort of amnesty to let their raza in?

NO THANKS!

Talk to Latinos. It sounds pretty simple, but the truth is right now Republicans don't communicate enough with Hispanics

Why is it necessary to specifically talk to latinos as a separate group? Do they really feel as if they are that special (of course they do)! This group has been pandered to and kowtowed to long enough! Besides, if they really want what the rest of America wants, why would they need to be spoken to separately?

You’re in AMERICA! If you want to be addressed as latinos, go back to mexico! Sick of this crap!