Texas Hispanic activists stress potential impact
Voter advocates looking to show group’s strength at the ballot box
In an election year in which every vote is crucial, Hispanics are scrambling harder than ever to show they can make a decisive difference at the ballot box in November.
The Hispanic vote is fractured, however, polls show. Democrats are counting on overwhelming support from Latinos, but Republicans and Libertarians are doing all they can to chip away at that backing.
No matter which candidate Hispanics vote for, they are expected to have a big effect on the presidential race — if they don’t stay home.
Just about half of the Latino voters nationwide say they are “absolutely certain” they are registered to vote, according to the Pew Research Center. Texas has the second-largest Hispanic voter population, behind only California, the center’s research shows.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has long offended many Hispanics, with his “build a wall” campaign to keep people from illegally crossing the border and his belief that many who come here illegally are murderers and rapists. But he has tried to soften his stance some on whether illegal immigrants with no criminal records should be deported and has been reaching out to minority communities.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has long reached out to minorities, who make up a key demographic of the Democratic Party, but she disappointed some by not choosing a Hispanic vice presidential candidate, though she picked Tim Kaine, who is fluent in Spanish, as her running mate. Amends ‘impossible’
Recent polls show that Clinton has a narrow lead nationally, but a new WashingtonPost-SurveyMonkey poll drew skepticism by putting Clinton virtually even with Trump in Texas, where there are nearly 5 million Hispanic voters.
“Trump’s … statements on immigration and the border wall make it impossible for him to make amends before November,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “This election will be a windfall for Democrats with the Latino vote.”
The polls show that the gap between Trump and Clinton across the country has tightened, even in a variety of battleground states.
Asaresult, “the Hispanic vote is becoming ever more critical given the discussion in this year’s presidential election,” said Allan Saxe, anassociate political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Here in Texas, a new effort — Your Vote, Tu Futuro —has begun to encourage Latinos to vote. The webvideo series touches on issues ranging from the need to vote to how Texas’ voter ID law works.
Trump has said he believes he’s making progress courting the Hispanic vote.
He recently went to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Ni etoonw hat some thought was a peace-seeking mission. Trump said he and Peña Nieto didn’t talk about who would pay for his proposed wall. Peña Nieto later tweeted that he clearly said Mexico won’t pay. Trump, later that day during a fiery campaign speech in Phoenix, said Mexico will pay. Not moderating stance
Disappointing many who joined his Hispanic advisory council, Trump returned to his aggressive promise to crack down on illegal immigrants. He reminded supporters that “anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation.”
“It appeared for a glimmer of a moment when he traveled to Mexico City to meet with President EnriquePeñaNie to that he was moderating his stance on immigration in an attempt to make a bid for the support of those Latinos who regularly vote Republican (or are true independents) but who have been repelled by his past rhetoric,” said Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “His speech in Phoenix, the home of controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, snuffed out any belief that he was shifting his position, and quite possibly etched in political stone his current hard-line stance on immigration and undocumented immigrants, with only two months to go until Election Day.”
A recent poll shows Trump has some positive feedback from minority voters. In fact, 35 percent of Hispanic voters and 24 percent of African-American voters gave him a very or somewhat favorable ranking, according to the latest Franklin Pierce University/ Boston Herald poll.
But Houston immigration attorney Jacob Monty — who had given Trump a plan to help “honest, hardworking immigrants” and create a border security plan — isn’t one of them. Monty and others resigned from Trump’s advisory council after the Phoenix speech.
“He must want to lose,” Monty posted on Facebook. “He can do that without me.”