Hispanics may alter vote outcomes...Duh?

By Solman

Hispanics could affect the outcome of political elections in the near future according to people in the know around the capitol. By 2030, they could evidently even have chipped away at the Republican majority enough to change election outcomes.

No shit, huh? Didya figure that one out on your own?

There’s approximately 2,000 miles of border between Texas and Mexico, approximately 35% of Texas residents are of Hispanic Origin, and it’s the largest growing ethnic group in the state. So it kinda makes sense that politicians of all parties are paying attention; they kinda need the votes. According to Juan Castillo in the Statesman article linked below, one in 6 votes cast in Texas is cast by a Hispanic voter.

Hispanics traditionally vote Democratic; after all dems are usually the ones who support what (traditionally) are most important to Hispanics. From health care to employment to economic security, dems just seem to strike the right chord with Latinos. They attempted to appeal to this with the Dream Team a few years ago, but poor Sanchez just was too sleepy (and perhaps too white) to really appeal to Hispanics.

Republicans want their vote too, but with their most prominent members both statewide and nationally seemingly constantly calling for immigration reform and generally having an unfavorable and unfriendly attitude to Latinos, its gonna be slightly harder for them to successfully court the vote from Hispanics.

So according to Castillo’s article, by 2020 the republican majority could be unbalanced and even compromised by 2030. Maybe it’s a testament to number-crunching, but it seems pretty apparent to me regardless of statistics. When you’ve got an issue over the licensing of “taco trucks” in the capitol, id say Hispanics are worth noting in the population. When the Mexican American Cultural Center opens after a decade-old push for its construction, that sheer tenacity suggests a presence to me. When you see billboards in Spanish west of I-35, it’s a trend worth paying attention too. Especially for politicians, whose job it is essentially to keep an eye on the public, if for no other reason than to be ready for the next election.

So come on you guys, I suppose the numbers are helpful, but if your just now figuring this out, its no wonder our state is in the shape its in.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/22/0922latinopol.html