In a year where every vote counts, the growing Latino population will continue to play a large role in the presidential year. We discuss the importance of the Latino vote in 2024 with Jason Barraza, a partner at political consulting firm Veridas, and Dr. Edward Vargas, associate professor in ASU's School of Transnational Studies and senior analyst at BSB Research.
More than 36 million Latinos will be eligible to vote this year, setting a new record, according to Pew Research. There are many questions about whether Latinos tend to vote more conservatively. Vargas said:
“My colleague Eric Gonzalez in Michigan did some research using data from the Joint Election Study, and what it showed in 2014 is actually why the Democratic share is down a little bit. Okay, so we're seeing an uptick in independents, and we're seeing fewer Latino Republicans actually moving into that space as well, and two, we're seeing the rise of independents in 2022. “We should have seen a real decline in support in democracies, but we didn't see that…” Vargas said.
Vargas said Latino voters are typically about nine years younger than the median voter, which is important because more and more voters are becoming younger each year. Vargas said the issues young voters care about are abortion rights, child care costs and health insurance.
“There are other issues that are more at the forefront, like abortion, for example, but as long as the public cares as much as it does in Arizona, this issue will be consistent across the country,” Barraza said. .
Barraza believes politicians should not focus on taking a stand on a particular issue and trying to sway someone's vote in one direction or another.
“It's about identifying the issues that voters already agree with you on and communicating that you're the candidate of choice for them. So ultimately it's going to be about both the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign.” “I guess so,” Barraza said.
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