Political Parties, Candidates Ignoring Latino Voters

Less than four weeks before Latino voters head to the polls for the 2018 midterm elections, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund and Latino Decisions released data from the third wave of national tracking poll of Latino registered voters.
Results from the third week of the NALEO Educational Fund/Latino Decisions Weekly Political Tracking Poll offers exclusive insights into the Latino electorate this year, including newly released information that break down Latino voters surveyed by state/region, age, gender, generational status, and more. This poll was conducted by Latino Decisions from September 8-17, (with a margin of error of 4.4 percent).

A key finding in this poll, indicates that Latino voters are still being ignored nationwide. The third wave of the poll showed no movement in contact rates. Nearly 60 percent of Latino registered voters nationwide report still not being contacted by a candidate or political party, including those residing in states with competitive races like Texas and Florida.
“With less than four weeks to go before Election Day, Latinos across the country are still being ignored,” stated Arturo Vargas, NALEO Educational Fund chief executive officer. “Time is running out. If the candidates and campaigns want to ensure Latino voters show up at the polls this year, including in key states like Texas and Florida, they need to make significant investments in outreach efforts that acknowledge the importance of this growing electorate now.”

“Time is running out. If the candidates and campaigns want to ensure Latino voters show up at the polls this year they need to make significant investments in outreach efforts that acknowledge the importance of this growing electorate now.”
Arturo Vargas, NALEO

Photo/Foto: NALEO Educational Fund As Election 2018 approaches, NALEO Educational Fund will continue its efforts to ensure that Latino voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

Among those polled, Latino voters who are over the age of 70 (72 percent), foreign-born (67 percent), making under $40k (66 percent), and female (64 percent) were the most likely to report being ignored.
“Given how important the Latino vote will be in deciding dozens of races in 2018, it is remarkable that we have not seen any movement in the percent of Latinos who report being contacted by campaigns,” said Matt Barreto, co-founder of Latino Decisions and Professor at UCLA. “Not surprising, there has not been any change in how Latinos view the political parties, with over 40 percent stating the Democrats ignore or attack Latinos and over 75 percent stating the Republicans ignore or attack Latinos. If Latino turnout is low this November it will be because of inadequate outreach, not any defect with Latino eligible voters.”

As Election 2018 approaches, NALEO Educational Fund will continue its efforts to ensure that Latino voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard at the ballot box. These efforts include operating toll-free bilingual hotline 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (1-888-839-8682) that provides Latino voters with information on every aspect of the electoral process, from registering to vote, to voter ID requirements, to finding their polling place. On Election Day, the hotline will be connected to the Election Protection efforts and 1-866-OUR-VOTE, offering Latino voters nationwide a bilingual resource to get assistance and report any problems they may experience at the polls.

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