Maria Elena Salinas

Introducing her book
"I am my father's daughter"

ROMANCING THE HISPANIC VOTE

Written by Maria Elena Salinas
Thursday, October 10 2002

I'm a romantic at heart. For many years, my evenings were spent watching Mexican novelas with the same predictable plot line. In all of them, a beautiful peasant girl falls in love with a handsome young man from an extremely rich family. The young Romeo courts his reluctant Juliet with flowers, serenades and "Te amos" until the two end up living happily ever after. In the world of politics it seems most Hispanics are also hopeless romantics. That's the theory espoused by pollster Sergio Bendixen when I asked him recently about the Latino vote in the upcoming elections. "Latino voters like to be romanced," Bendixen told me. "They like the music at political events, they like the use of Spanish by politicians. It makes them feel important." Latinos have good reason to feel important this election season. We're the fastest growing voting group in the country. One quarter of all congressional districts have at least 100,000 Latinos. We make up 29 percent of the potential electorate in Texas, 28 percent in California, 21 percent in Arizona, 16 percent in Florida, 15 percent in Colorado, 14 percent in New York. It feels good to be Latino around election time. Politicians make you feel like you are really important to them. They go to your parties, eat your food, play your music and even try to talk to you in your own language. They tell you how much they care about the issues that affect you, and that they, and only they, can make things better for your community. Democrats claim to be the party that best represents minorities. Republicans say they share the same values as Latinos. Some people call it "outreach"; others call it "pandering." Call it what you want, what it really means is that the Latino vote is hot. We have it, they want it. The question is who really deserves it. If we believe in polls, then it must be that at least some of George W. Bush's efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters are paying off. Recent polls show that Bush has gained considerable popularity among Hispanics since he has been in office. This raises a lot of questions about which serenading Romeo will end up with the coveted Latino vote at the end of the novela. Hispanic voters have traditionally supported the Democratic Party. So much for tradition. According to numbers released by the conservative Latino Coalition in Washington D.C., 68 percent of Hispanics approve of the job President Bush is doing. If the presidential elections were held today, 50 percent would support Bush and only 35 percent would vote for Democratic candidate Al Gore. Interesting results, but last time I checked Al Gore is not running for anything right now. So what does this mean? Are Hispanics switching parties? Are they dumping the Democrats and becoming Republican? Well, not quite. For now, it seems to be just a love affair with Señor Bush. Congressional Democrats are still preferred by Hispanics, although approval ratings for Congressional Republicans among Latinos have increased somewhat. This could be due to the fact that some Latinos now see the Republican Party as the party of George W. Bush and not the party of former California governor Pete Wilson, perceived by most to be anti-immigrant at best, borderline racist at worst. No one can dispute the fact that President Bush has gone out of his way to court Hispanics. He has named several Hispanics to key positions. He celebrates Cinco de Mayo and he makes great efforts to speak Spanish. The GOP has tried to keep up by sending top party leaders to Spanish lessons and launched the infomercial Abriendo Caminos that airs on Spanish-language television stations in selected cities. Music promoter Emilio Estefan, who has helped the Bush Administration with Hispanic outreach events, says the president once told him, "Emilio, when you see me don't shake my hand. I want you to always give me a big abrazo." Several political leaders point out that speaking Spanish, playing mariachi music in the Rose Garden and giving big abrazos to a select group of amigos is not enough to show Hispanics you care about them. But at least it's a start. The Latino vote is up for grabs and no politician can either ignore it or take it for granted. Now that we have their attention, it's up to Latino political leaders to make the most out of this political power. They should be working hard to encourage citizenship among legal residents, and motivate Hispanic Americans to register and exercise their right to vote. They should help educate voters to make intelligent decisions at the polls. And help develop future Latino candidates. The Latino community is in great need of a political leader. In the poll conducted by Mc Laughlin and Associates, Opiniones Latinas, 75 percent or those questioned could not identify a national Latino leader they admired. The one with the highest numbers, 3.7 percent, was Mexican President Vicente Fox, the leader of a foreign country. That is embarrassing. We need homegrown Latino leaders to call attention to the needs of our community. We care about education, the economy, health care and immigration reform. The high-school dropout rate among Hispanics is the highest in the country, and the college graduation rate the lowest. We also have the highest unemployment rate, and the lowest income level. Almost of third of us have no health insurance. As Election Day approaches, politicians from both parties would be wise to heed this advice. Address issues affecting Hispanics, support their concerns through votes not just talk, and they will pay you back at the polls. And Hispanic voters should be careful not to let anyone sweet talk them. Remember that in politics, as well as in most novelas, there is often an intriguing plot of deceit.