Have Democrats, in their concentration on protecting illegal immigrants, overlooked key areas of concern to the Latino/Hispanic community, which makes up 17% of the U.S. population?
Party leaders have made an important political calculation. They are gambling that the way to gain the support of the vital and growing numbers of Latino-American voters is to take an absolutist stand on immigration issues. Approximately 340 mostly Democrat-controlled states and localities support sanctuary policies that even protect illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders pledged to provide illegals a path to legal status.
That approach may not prove successful, not with the majority of voters, and perhaps not with the Latino community itself. The viability of that approach heavily depends on the assumption that illegal immigration is an issue that Latino-American voters consider paramount, by no means a sure thing.
A key example of a major Latino issue which Democrats ignored in their emphasis on illegal immigration is the extraordinary plight of Puerto Rico. Despite a $780 billion “stimulus” package, President Obama failed totally to address major problems affecting the island, most notably, its woefully deficient electric grid. It is baffling how, despite the urgent need to improve that critical infrastructure issue, the former administration somehow believed there weren’t sufficient “shovel ready” jobs to concentrate on.
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Only 3% of Obama’s stimulus funds actually went to infrastructure.
According to a 2016 Pew Hispanic analysis of its standing with the Latino-American community. “Latino registered voters have long said the Democratic Party has more concern for Latinos or Hispanics than the Republican Party, with Democrats losing some ground on this measure since 2012. Over the same period, Democrats have not made significant gains in party affiliation, with 64% of Latino voters identifying with or leaning toward the Democratic Party in 2016, a similar share to 2012 when 70% said the same… There are some differences in the views of the political parties among demographic subgroups of Hispanics in 2016. For example, older Hispanics are more likely than younger Hispanics to say the Democratic Party has more concern for Hispanics than the Republican Party. Among registered voters, nearly six-in-ten (59%) non-Millennial Hispanics (ages 36 and older) say Democrats have more concern, compared with 48% of Hispanic Millennials (ages 18 to 35). At the same time, Hispanic Millennial voters are more likely than Hispanic non-Millennial voters to say there is no difference between the parties, 38% compared with 21%. (Roughly equal shares of Hispanic Millennial voters and Hispanic non-Millennial voters – about one-in-ten – say Republicans have more concern for Hispanics.) There are also differences on this issue by gender, with 60% of Hispanic women voters saying Democrats have more concern for Hispanic than Republicans, compared with 48% of Hispanic men who are registered to vote.
Pew’s analysis makes it clear that Democrats concentration on immigration issues has resonated with one sub-group of Latino voters: not surprisingly, immigrants. “Among Latino voters who are foreign born, 70% identify as Democrats or lean Democratic and 18% identify as Republican or lean toward the GOP. By comparison, 62% of U.S.-born Latino voters identify as Democrats or lean Democratic and 26% identify as Republican or lean toward the GOP.”
The League of United Latin American Citizens notes that Latino-Americans “care about the issues that affect their friends, families, and neighborhoods. Yet, if we look at the way media, politicians, and the general public portrays Latinos, you would think that the only thing Latinos care about is immigration reform. This is simply not true. Like any other demographic in America, Latinos are deeply concerned with other issues. In fact, when determining their presidential candidate, 33% of Latino chose “jobs and the economy” as the top issue to consider. Only 17% believed immigration was the most important issue. Education and healthcare were also two other major issues. Of course immigration is still important to Latinos, as the immigrant and Latino experience, at some level, are tied to one another. However, the problem of simply focusing in on this one issue is that it polarizes immigration to be, almost exclusively, a Latino issue. It is time that politicians recognize that Latinos are not single-issue voters. We are diverse in the problems we care about just as we are diverse in our cultures, backgrounds, and stories.”