Much has been said and written about Latino voters joining the Republican Party. However, some observers think the overturning of Roe v. Wade will erode the shift to the Right by Latinos. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette agrees more Mexicans and Mexican-Americans — who make up more than half of all U.S. Latino voters — are becoming comfortable with the idea of voting for GOP candidates. But he says that to gain and keep those Latino voters, the Republican Party would be wise to avoid the mistakes made by Democrats.
Look, not all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are leaving the Democrats. In fact, relatively few are. Still there are two big questions. One, why is this happening? Answer: Because Democrats are idiots and they do all the wrong things. They started taking Latinos for granted, stopped asking for our support, and seemed insulted that they actually had to go out and earn our votes. And two, how long will this phenomenon last? Answer: That depends.
That depends on what Republicans do now from this point on. These Latino votes just fell in their laps because Democrats dropped the ball and people don’t tend to respect that which is not earned. Conservative radio host Michael Medved, who has been a good friend of mine for about 15 years, recently asked me precisely the right question. How could Republicans blow this historic opportunity?
Three ways, I told him. First, Republicans could make the same mistake that Democrats made that set all these defections in motion. They could take us for granted, ignore us, refuse to invest the time and effort to keep us in the fold. They could pursue interests that conflict with our own, all when they should be listening to what we want, and give it to us. It’s not that hard. Certainly it’s not as hard as politicians make it out to be. Second, Republicans could continue the double talk. One minute, they say, “Welcome! Glad you’re here, mi casa su casa,” and they insist they want more Latino support. The next minute, they’re back to their nativist dog whistles, they’re warning of an invasion of predators and moochers who they claim are coming to do Americans harm. When the truth is, all these immigrants want to do is our chores. Third, Republicans could miss their chance to do the simplest and most necessary thing of all: Just go out and meet us.
Get to know us, figure out what issues we care about. Republicans need to go into Latino communities and barrios and neighborhoods and build relationships. If you want our votes, you have to go ask for them. We’re a social people, so come out and socialize with us.
