Hi everyone.
I'm doing my final project on this, but I also thought it would make a great discussion question to blog about.
What is the role of the 'Latino vote' in the upcoming election?
Since I'm researching this topic I'll provide you with some major point that the experts discuss which might stimulate your response to this post.
They are:
1. Latinos are an important 'swing vote'
2. Latinos are not a homogenous group in terms of political ideology
3. Mexican American presidential voting patterns (who they vote for) is close to or the same as the general American public.
4. Other social identities may play a larger role than the Latino identity. For example age and socio economic status.
Is any of this data surprising?
Why do you think a Latino might vote for Obama?
Why do you think a Latino might vote for McCain?
Do you think there are any other important questions or phenomenon to observe?
Also, if you respond to the post after the election, share your opinion about how the 'Latino vote' influenced the election results.
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2 comments:
Before the election started I was really interested to see how other Latinos would vote for both the presidential candidates and also on some of the proposals around the Nation. Now that the election is over and Barack Obama is our next President, polls have show that the Latino Vote was a huge factor for Obama's win Tuesday night.
In the state of Florida, that has voted Republican for the past two elections finally went Democrat. With Obama receiving 57% of the Latino vote and McCain 42% in comparison to the 2004 election with 55% of the Latino vote going to Bush and 44% to Kerry. That is a huge swing of votes that I think is in response to our current state of the economy, just as it is/was for many Americans Tuesday.
I think another factor in their (or Our) vote deals with another key issue of Health Care. Unfortunately, many Latinos do not have access to health care because of their jobs or just can't afford it. A huge deciding factor for myself and my family was where Obama was able to relate to those who don't have means to the proper care. How he talked about his mother and her struggle to find new ways to pay hospital bills all the while slowly dying.
I really think that Americans as a whole, voted for Obama because they were fed up with Republicans. This summer I asked someone why they were going to vote for McCain and they said it was because "The city of Chicago" (city workers) are mostly Afircan American, and if Obama won, there would probably be even more African American employees. Everyone had different reasons for voting one way or another but I think that Latinos finally realized that they had the opportunity to vote for someone that wanted "Change" in America. I think Latinos saw that with Obama, there was finally hope as well as opportunity.
I, like was not sure how Latinos were going to vote because I thought some latinos would not vote for him because he is African American. However, I also think that Latinos were able to relate to Obama because we like him have had similar struggles.
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