HispanicTrending

September 27, 2016
By Caitlin Dewey

Google is an imperfect oracle of popular will, but here’s one trend that seems pretty clear: Searches for the phrase “registrarse para votar” — “register to vote,” in Spanish — hit an all-time high during Monday’s presidential debate, spiking to more than 100,000 searches.

1

The term was Google’s third trending search in the United States at 10:30 p.m. Monday, preceded only by two phrases related to the Houston shooting. According to Google, search volume was highest in the ever-important swing state of Florida, followed by New Jersey, New York, Texas and California.

A quick note on this data, and what Google means by “trending”: The designation doesn’t refer to the most popular searches, but the ones that — relative to all other searches — are spiking. In other words, the blue trend line above doesn’t show you how many Spanish-speaking people are Googling how to vote. It shows you what normalized share they represent, in the grand scheme of all U.S. Google searches.

Spanish-language searches for voting information have only neared this interest share on one prior occasion: That was after the first presidential debate in 2012. In the current election cycle, the last comparable spike occurred on Aug. 31, the day Donald Trump made his much-anticipated Phoenix immigration speech, though search volume also increased after both parties’ conventions.

Incidentally, Google just introduced a major expansion to its in-search voting guides, the automated Knowledge Box that provides searchers personalized information on how and when to register in their states. (To be fair, this probably compounded the apparent spike from the debates.) While the box was previously only triggered by English-language searches, queries like “registrarse para votar” or “como votar” now also pull up the guides to registering.

Hispanic voters are far more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton than for Trump, statistically speaking.

Source: The Washington Post

September 27, 2016
By Mindy Romero

California Latinos are helping to ensure a Democratic majority in the state’s Legislature, but they are hardly a politically monolithic group. The range of their political positions creates a complicated picture of both progressive and centrist influence on state politics. As the number of Latino legislators and voters grows, they will add to the shades of blue that dominate California’s political landscape.

Latinos now constitute nearly 40% of California’s population, surpassing the white, non-Latino population. Yet they make up only 20% of the Legislature, and at the local level their numbers are even less representative of their share in the population: Statewide, Latinos make up roughly 10% of county supervisors and 15% of city council members, according to the Leadership California Institute.

Still, Latinos have achieved an unprecedented ability to influence state politics. Their legislative power is boosted by their concentration on the Democratic side of the aisle. Twenty-two out of 24 Latino legislative members are Democrats. Last year, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León became the first Latino to lead the Senate in over a century. And with the March appointment of Anthony Rendón, a Democrat representing California's 63rd Assembly District, as speaker of the Assembly, Latinos of Mexican descent now lead the state’s two legislative bodies.

Meanwhile, the Latino Legislative Caucus has become a major driver of progressive causes in Sacramento. Thirteen of its members are chairs or vice chairs of legislative committees, and five members hold leadership appointments. Latino leadership has successfully shepherded bills that addressed educational disparities and voter access, strengthened clean energy rules and asserted immigrant rights. In June, for example, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 10, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), despite significant opposition. SB 10 is the latest in a series of bills expanding healthcare access to undocumented Californians.

At the same time, a significant number of rank-and-file Latino Democrats consider themselves moderates, and their positions sometimes drive the Legislature in a more conservative direction. These politicians reflect the wide variation in the state's Latino electorate. A majority of Latino voters are registered Democrats and only 15% are Republican, but according to a 2016 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, 30% of Latinos see themselves politically as “middle of the road” and 36% consider themselves conservative.

And of course Latino politicians don’t only represent one ethnic group. Many must appeal to a wide range of voters to win their seats. That's in part because among Latino citizens old enough to vote, turnout rates are much lower than for whites — the state average for Latinos was only 17% in the 2014 general election, according to the California Civic Engagement Project at UC Davis’ Center for Regional Change. In diverse districts, Latinos may make up a large share of the population but a relatively small share of voters.

In addition, when it comes to money and other forms of political influence, Latino communities typically can’t keep up with whiter and wealthier communities. Even in districts that are overwhelmingly Latino, outside money can play an outsize role and have a big effect on votes in Sacramento, sometimes to the detriment of Latino communities.

All this leads to tensions that test Democratic Party unity and provide significant pushback on some elements of the party’s agenda. For example, pro-business, moderate Latino legislators, especially those from inland districts, put a strong emphasis on protecting jobs. They are often far less “green” than the Latino leadership or non-Latino Democrats from progressive coastal districts.

In 2015, then-Assemblyman Henry Perea of Fresno, whose district has a significant oil and agriculture presence, led a group of moderate Democrats who joined with Republicans against two bills seen as the cornerstone of Gov. Jerry Brown’s climate goals. These legislators succeeded at removing a mandated reduction of petroleum use from SB 350, which increased California’s renewable energy use to 50% by 2030. A similar coalition forced concessions this year in SB 32, which nonetheless strengthened the state’s greenhouse-gas reduction goals. It passed, but not without delays and a compromise, forced in large part by these Latino representatives.

By 2040, Latinos are projected to make up 45% of the state population and 38% of its eligible voters. Despite the California Republican Party’s recent, belated efforts to soften its stand on immigration, it seems unlikely that many Latinos will switch parties and vote Republican. The rhetoric of Donald Trump and his supporters has cemented the image of the GOP as anti-Latino and anti-immigrant in the minds of another generation.

But Latinos’ Democratic loyalty won’t erase the variations in their politics. Going forward, Latinos will exert an ever-growing influence on the state’s policy landscape and the party's agenda. They will almost certainly extend the Democrats’ power in California, but they will moderate the party’s policies as well.

Source: Los Angeles Times

September 26, 2016
By Rafael Bernal

None of the three presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will feature Hispanic moderators despite the campaign's focus on immigration and the Latino vote.
 
Some Latino leaders are calling the lack of representation an oversight, given the demographic group's role in the 2016 campaign.
 
"I think the American people have been cheated, certainly Hispanic American people have been cheated," Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Javier Palomarez told The Hill Monday. The lack of Hispanic moderators is "obvious, glaring evidence that the Hispanic community has been overlooked," he said.
 
The first presidential debate will take place at Hofstra University at 9 p.m. Monday and will be moderated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt.
 
Debate moderators have received pressure from both presidential campaigns to maintain objectivity while holding candidates accountable for potential factual misrepresentations.
 
A central point of the campaign, immigration, could be particularly difficult to moderate, as Clinton and Trump proposals approach the issue from different perspectives.
 
Trump began his campaign in July 2015 proposing a border wall paid for by Mexico and calling Mexican immigrants "rapists" who "bring crime."
 
Clinton proposes comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country.
 
"I don't know that [having a Hispanic moderator] would be in and of itself enough to totally change the tone, particularly given what we have seen by Trump's performances dealing with any moderators," said Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.).
 
Trump feuded with some debate moderators during the Republican primaries. In August 2015, he said Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" after she questioned him on-stage about his previous comments about women.
 
Both campaigns have actively pursued the Hispanic vote, seen as crucial in Latino-heavy swing states like Colorado, Florida and Nevada. The Clinton camp is also reaching out to smaller Latino populations in tight races like Iowa, where a small percentage of voters could swing the state.
 
"Though immigration isn’t necessarily the number one issue Latinos care about, it does open the door to initial engagement with our community," said Chuck Rocha, president of the consulting firm Solidarity Strategies, in an op-ed for the Huffington Post.
 
Palomarez said that immigration was likely to be a sticking point in the debates because Trump will have to balance appealing to voters who have responded positively to his strong rhetoric on the subject and the need to cut Clinton's lead with the demographic.
 
"You don’t start your campaign in that fashion and keep it up for 10, 11 months and all of a sudden you’re enlightened and you start backing away from it. It’s too little too late, you were given many many chances to back away," said Palomarez.
 
But Palomarez said the lack of a Latino moderator could help Trump "navigate the issue."
 
There isn’t somebody in that panel who is Hispanic, who could ask questions in such a way that only an immigrant and a Hispanic could ask," he said.

Source: The Hill

September 26, 2016
Via EFE

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's adviser on Hispanic issues, Jose Fuentes, hopes that Monday night's debate helps get across the mogul's image of "change" compared to his "stiff" Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who – he says – speaks more to people's heads than to their hearts.

In a chat with EFE at the debate site, Fuentes, the former attorney general of Puerto Rico and a member of Trump's Hispanic Advisory Council, said he hopes to see the Trump that "we've gotten to know in person," whom he calls an easy person to talk to and very well prepared.

Fuentes emphasized that Clinton is a "very stiff" candidate, whereas Trump represents an alternative.

He said that Clinton speaks to people's heads not to their hearts and the public is tired of a Washington politician who says the same thing "year after year," adding that "the people want change" and saying they will get that if they elect Trump.

Fuentes spoke with EFE at the door of the David S. Mack auditorium at Hofstra University on Long Island, where at 9 p.m. the first presidential debate of the 2016 campaign will get under way.

The Latino adviser said that voter surveys show that garnering the support of "the large number of undecideds is key" in the November election.

He said that it is a "big problem" for Clinton if the people who have known her for 30 years are not convinced that this is a big opportunity for them, adding that Trump has the chance to pull those votes onto his side of the ledger.

Nevertheless, Fuentes acknowledged the Republican's unpopularity among the Latino community, a result of his controversial comments about Mexican immigrants, whom he called "rapists," and his proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to halt illegal migration.

Fuentes said the campaign is well aware that Trump is behind Clinton in the polls among Hispanics, but he went on to say that the polls also show much indecision among Latinos. Therefore, he said, Trump intends to speak directly to Hispanics, although he did not offer any details about what the mogul might say in the speech he will deliver on Tuesday in Miami.

Monday night's debate, which will last 90 minutes, is the first opportunity for Americans to see how the candidates measure up going head to head on the issues.

An average of the main voter surveys calculated by the specialized RealClearPolitics Web site shows Clinton has lost the comfortable 8-or-so-point advantage she had enjoyed after the party conventions and now is in a technical tie with Trump with 46 percent to his 44 percent.

Expectations are for more than 100 million people to watch this first of three televised debates, setting a record for this type of TV event.

Source: Fox News Latino