Mike Madrid, author of the new book “The Latino Century,” is in a better position than most political consultants to comment on America’s Latino electorate because of his professional experience and upbringing.
Madrid, who grew up in a Mexican-American family in Southern California, said he became a Republican at heart at age 9 when Ronald Reagan was first elected president in 1980. A longtime Republican, he has advised prominent candidates at the state and national levels.
Madrid, a critic of former President Donald Trump since he began his attacks on Mexicans during the 2016 election campaign, is also a co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project.
Madrid says both Republicans and Democrats have completely misunderstood Hispanic voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which Hispanics could play a key role.
Jobs and the economy have always been top of mind for Latinos, and it’s a mistake to characterize them as just a disgruntled minority concerned with immigration, farm workers or the border, he said. He also noted that many Latinos in the U.S. are not immigrants, and many don’t speak Spanish at all.
But Madrid said Latinos are a rapidly growing and optimistic group that now makes up about 19 percent of the U.S. population, more than any other racial or ethnic minority, and should play a bigger role in U.S. democracy.
Madrid has promoted the idea of a multiracial, pluralistic democracy where people fight for something rather than against something, and he wants both parties to take into account not only the views of naturalized Latino immigrants, but also their U.S.-born children and grandchildren, who see policy in generational rather than ethnic terms.
The consultants blame Democratic advisers for incorrectly assuming the party speaks for all Latinos. They also believe there is partisan bias among Democratic pollsters who oversample Spanish speakers and naturalized immigrants and miss the rightward shift among Hispanic voters. While most Latinos remain Democrats, Democrats have steadily lost support from Latinos because of their focus on white, progressive, college-educated voters who care more about cultural issues than working-class issues.
Meanwhile, Madrid said Republicans need to understand that the rightward shift of Latino voters in recent elections has little to do with GOP efforts. Rather, it reflects the assimilation of a group of people whose families have lived in the U.S. for generations.
He said the Republican Party’s almost exclusive focus on white, non-college-educated voters hasn’t helped it win over Latino voters, and exploiting divisive racial issues, such as demonizing Latino immigrants, hasn’t helped either.
Madrid argues that if the Republican Party could get beyond white resentment and become more pro-immigration, it could actually gain more Latino support and win more national elections.
They also say Republicans are focusing on the traditional economic policies that Latino voters care about most: lowering taxes and cutting government regulations.
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