The power of the Latina vote in the 2020 election

 

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The power of the Latina vote in the 2020 election

The path to victory in November cannot afford to ignore the Latino vote. A record 32 million people who identify as Latino will be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election, making Latinos the nation’s largest minority voter group for the first time, according to the Pew Research Center. Two-thirds of Latino eligible voters live in five states, several of which are battlegrounds: California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Arizona. 

Women vote at higher rates than men across all racial and ethnic groups in the US. That gap is particularly wide for Latino voters. 

The key to winning the Latino electorate, experts say, is Latinas.  

“The role that Latinas play in our communities and our families, they're our matriarchs, they're the glue that holds our families and our communities together,” Stephanie Valencia, co-founder and president of EquisLabs said.

“We believe that they will not just turn out to vote themselves, but that they will organize and engage others around them to go and vote as well,” Valencia continued.

The Democratic Party has taken notice of this trend. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016 courted Latina voters and ran Mujeres for Hillary, a campaign within a campaign. But some researchers say that outreach wasn’t strategic enough.

Ultimately, Clinton lost the general election. She won the Latino vote overall but underperformed compared to former President Barack Obama’s support from Latinos in 2012. 

We know that women’s support in 2016 was complicated. More white women supported Donald Trump in 2016 than Hillary Clinton. Black women, however, were Hillary’s strongest base, with 93 percent supporting her. She had approximately 75 percent of Latinas’ support. 

Latinas are the secret weapon to the Latinx vote. Their power lies in the social networks they hold and their ability to catalyze them to influence those around them.

To truly tap into the power of Latina women in 2020, there will need to be a strategic investment made to communicate and engage Latinas—to build confidence and increase their enthusiasm about the process.

https://aldianews.com/articles/politics/elections/power-latina-vote-2020-election/58998

https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/57/latina-voters-why-excitement-matters/ 

https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-25/key-winning-latino-vote-2020-latinas