KEY TAKEAWAYS

• • Hispanics are among the youngest racial or ethnic groups in the country with a median age of 30
  •  Latinas in the U.S. were especially affected by the pandemic. Between February and April, their unemployment rate jumped from 5.5% to 20.5%
  •  Latinos will be voting on three major things: coronavirus, the economy, and healthcare
  • Registration is not the biggest barrier for Latino voters but casting their vote is.

Politicians need to do more to engage with our community and show that they care about our issues as well if they want the Latino vote.

This year’s presidential election will not only be the first time Latinos are the largest community of color eligible to vote, with a calculated 32 million citizens; it will also be the first election for many young Latinos and Latinas who are qualified to hit the polls come November 3.

I can’t stress enough to my community how important voting, and educating yourself about politics is, especially now more than before due to the current political environment and because of how extreme the parties have become. 

There are an estimated 58.9 million Hispanics in the United States. So with Latinos comprising 18.1% of the U.S. population. Of those, 30 million are eligible to register and vote. Hispanics are among the youngest racial or ethnic groups in the country with a median age of 30 according to the Pew Research Center. One million Latinos are expected to turn 18 every year for the next two decades.

 These are powerful numbers. However, the percentage of Latinos that participate in political activities varies but rarely exceeds, half of those eligible. Our community needs to understand the importance of exercising this power not only as individuals but also the power we have as a community to affect policy and shape the laws that impact us too. 

 Latinas in the U.S. were especially affected by the pandemic. Between February and April, their unemployment rate jumped from 5.5% to 20.5%. For Hispanic men, it was from 4.3% to 16.9% so you can see there’s a big difference. It’s hard for Latinas to think about politics when they are deciding where they are gonna get their next paycheck. 

Latinos come from all places and we vote differently just look at this election. There’s a lot of undecided voters in our community that consider themselves independent. I think the majority of Latinos consider what a candidate has to say about their native country and vote based on that. But now more than ever because our community has been affected the hardest from this pandemic that Latinos will be voting on three major things: coronavirus, the economy, and healthcare.

“Hispanics say the coronavirus outbreak is among the most serious issue facing the nation, with 70% saying it is a very big problem” which is comparable with 60% who said unemployment from a Pew Research survey in June. 

What intrigues me though is how often the Latino vote gets brought up in the last weeks or months of the election. The Latino community is very personable. Campaigns need to do more to outreach to Latino/Latina voters and educate them on how, why, and where they can vote. It’s literally their job. Many Latinos are essential workers. They’re the ones that are working long hours so it’s hard for them to constantly keep up with politics. Many Latinos work more than one job or have parents that do. The time that is needed to be on top of government news and understand politics isn’t always there. Voting is overwhelming because it requires someone to take a stance.

A lot of Latinos fear that they will be attacked for their views or blamed for their choices. This leads to registration not being the biggest barrier: but casting their vote is where Latinos freeze up. In my opinion from what I’ve observed when the Latino community watches politicians make empty promises and never seeing a change in society, they think that “it’s all corrupt anyways” and don’t realize that their vote does matter and they do make a big difference. However, I believe the majority feel overwhelmed by the choices and the political shamble that might be misleading or confusing. This is why campaigns need to do more and reach out to Latinos at the same time as they do to white voters. Not the last weeks or months. 

 We are a growing population especially in battleground states and we can’t keep getting ignored by politicians. Politicians shouldn’t show up last minute and expect the vote from our community. They should engage with the community and show that they care about our issues. This election has made it clear that Latinos are very eager to engage with campaigns that are ready to engage with them. This was seen through the Sanders campaign during the primaries especially in California where Latinos helped fuel his victory. He was even being called “Tio Bernie”. If campaigns went knocking door to door and talked with Latinos I guarantee you that is what will make the difference because of that interaction. 

The problem is that our community is perfectly satisfied with getting the bare minimum. This needs to change, we need to come together as a community and demand change on policies that are affecting our lives whether it is healthcare or the economy, and demonstrate that we demand change from a system we’re paying into like every other American.    

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE LATINO VOTE

1. In 2004, George W. Bush won 40% of the Hispanic vote, a record for a Republican candidate

2. Evangelical Latinos are twice as likely (36%) as those who are Catholic (18%) to identify with the Republican Party.

3. Latinos make up a record 17% of Florida registered voters in 2020

4. According to the latest annual report on the State of Latino Entrepreneurship published by Stanford Graduate School of Business, companies, and businesses run by Latinos enjoy faster growth than the average company across the country, and in 2016 generated $470 billion in revenue.

5. According to a survey carried out jointly by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic magazine in 2018, 9% of Latinx voters and an equal number of Black voters said that, in the 2016 elections, they or one of their family members were unable to vote due to not having a required form of identification. In comparison, only 3% of white voters suffered the same impediment on Election Day.

The survey also revealed that 14% of Latinos registered to vote in the 2016 elections had difficulty in finding a polling station on voting day, compared to 5% of white voters, while 11% of Latino voters reported that they were wrongly informed that they were not registered to vote when it came to casting their ballot.

Furthermore, Latinos and Black Americans were twice as likely to not be granted time off from work in order to cast their votes. The survey estimates that the number of Latino or African American voters that experienced “some obstacle to voting” in 2016 was twice the number of white citizens who reported a similar experience.