The Latino Vote- The largest racial or ethnic minority group in a U.S. presidential election

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The Latino Vote

This year, Latinos are expected for the first time to be the nation’s largest racial or ethnic minority group in a U.S. presidential election, with a record 32 million projected to be eligible to vote.  Latinos and some non-Latinos will account for more than 13% of all Americans eligible to cast a ballot.

A record 32 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential elections. See how the share of Latino voters varies by state and congressional district in the interactive maps Pew Research Center: Mapping the 2020 Latino electorate

Most of the 32 million immigrants eligible to vote in 2020 election live in just five states.

California alone holds roughly a quarter of the nation’s Latino electorate, with 7.9 million Latino eligible voters. Texas is second with 5.6 million, followed by Florida (3.1 million), New York (2.0 million), and Arizona (1.2 million).

Only about half of the nation’s 60 million Latinos are eligible to vote – the smallest share of any racial or ethnic group. While the Latino population has grown rapidly in recent decades, many are not eligible voters. More than other racial or ethnic groups, many Latinos are young (18.6 million are under 18 years old) or non-citizen adults (11.3 million, more than half of whom are unauthorized immigrants).

Bernard Fraga, a political scientist, called “The Turnout Gap”. Mr. Fraga argues that campaigns and political parties are doing a lousy job of targeting Latino voters. Instead of going after all voters, campaigns usually focus extra efforts on the voters who are most likely to show up, reinforcing existing turnout patterns and failing to mobilize new voters. And being the majority of Latino voters young, they spend more time on the Internet and social networks than any other minority.

Social Networking as a vehicle to reach the Latino vote.

Only 13 percent of Latinos who are currently registered to vote in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language, according to the Pew Research Center.

Sources: 

CNN: Hispanics in the US Fast Facts

Cronos Group: Social Networking as a vehicle to reach the Latino vote

The Economist explains Why don’t Latinos vote?

The New York Times: Do Latino Voters Really Care if the 2020 Candidates Speak Spanish?

Pew Research Center: Mapping the 2020 Latino electorate

Pew Research Center: Most of the 23 million immigrants eligible to vote in 2020 election live in just five states