The Dems are losing ground with Latinos--how should they respond?

[Signifyin(g)Monkey]

Article in case you haven't heard about it already, although I strongly suspect a lot of you already have: Republicans are winning more Latino votes but rising turnout still benefits Dems

 

Even against the backdrop of MAGA-world and a fizzled Red Wave, the Republicans are continuing to make inroads with Latino voters.  It's one of the reasons that Florida is no longer (for now) much of a swing state. DeSantis won it by twenty (!!!) points, courtesy of significant Latino support.  The little fascist won freaking Miami-Dade county. From a naive perspective, this shouldn't be happening--the GOP just sold out to a maniacal doofus who spent 2016 talking up fears of a barbarian horde of Hispanic rapists as one of the nation's biggest threats, right?

 

IMO, this is a serious weakness that I think the DNC might be underestimating the magnitude of--or at least making too ancillary of a concern.  It's not totally implausible that Florida could be the canary in the DeSantis-Trump-MAGA axis-run coalmine in 2024 and beyond if the Dems' Hispanic support gets too soft.  (Or am I totally incorrect that this is a thing?  If you think so please explain the badness of my bad take)

 

Why are the Republicans making gains, what are the Dems doing wrong (or at least need to improve on), and how might they reverse this trend?

 

Discuss, ye honorable CEB gents. Or don't.  (It's not up to me  )

[LazyPiranha]

Latinos love Jesus

[unogueen]

Stop pushing latinx

[GeneticBlueprint]

Latinos have soft spots for authoritarians which is like super weird considering a lot of the [U.S. backed] dictators from the past 50 or so years in South America.

[Signifyin(g)Monkey]

1 minute ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Latinos have soft spots for authoritarians which is like super weird considering a lot of the [U.S. backed] dictators from the past 50 or so years in South America.

And incompetent wannabe dictators--Bolsonaro says hello

[Zaku3]

42 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Latinos have soft spots for authoritarians which is like super weird considering a lot of the [U.S. backed] dictators from the past 50 or so years in South America.

 

It's only super weird if you don't know why the US backed those dictators. It comes with the territory of trying to stop communism. Thus Cubans, Venezuelans, and my Colombian mother freaking out about me being a socialist. Lol

[mclumber1]

Cuba has been a left-wing dictatorship for 60 years.  The same for Venezuela for about 20.  Could you argue that these people have a soft spot for dictators in general?

[GeneticBlueprint]

1 minute ago, Zaku3 said:

 

It's only super weird if you don't know why the US backed those dictators. It comes with the territory of trying to stop communism. Thus Cubans, Venezuelans, and my Colombian mother freaking out about me being a socialist. Lol

 

No I know why. It's still weird. Because I think Latinos in general don't view their past authoritarians in a positive light. So when they move to the US and are starting to side with the fascists it's odd. When I lived in Chile I met several people who had only recently moved back to the country after fleeing Pinochet. Like only recently had they felt safe enough to do so. This was in the mid 2000s. I met two women whose first husbands were disappeared by Pinochet. Very, very few people that I met in Chile viewed the Pinochet years in a positive light. Same with Argentines and Videla.

[Guest]

I’m always shocked by the number of Trump stickers I see on vehicles owned by Hispanics around here. My wife’s brothers are very Trumpy. At least one if my brothers is a lifetime law enforcement bro, so that kinda tracks.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Outside of Florida, they’re actually not. The swings against dems compared to 2020 is what you would expect from the incumbent presidents party

[Zaku3]

You are dealing with people in their home countries. The dudes here listen to US propaganda. Cubans legit think that all they gotta do and get rid of the communist government and the island will magically have the US standard of living. Problem is Cuba is the kind of country the US keeps poor to enrich itself.

 

I have two friends that are Puerto Rican and the other is Argentinian. They are both MAGA and hell I got started on my journey because the Argentinian had a comic of Che. Dude legit told me I should be killed for being a socialist. 

 

Trump gets points for "saying it like it is", tough guy persona, and successful man. The immigrant issue is they feel Trump is talking about the people that cross the border. Not Cubans fleeing Castro or legal immigration to the states.

 

Btw guys I need evidence. Have a hypothesis that my MAGA friends being dudes that can be mistaken for white isn't a coincidence. (Not saying that cant happen but I imagine you'd be more likely to support him.)

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Also worth noting that evangelical Christianity is spreading in a big way in South America and in the US as the Catholic Church is continually mired in scandal. Evangelicals vote strongly with republicans and from the polling Latinos are no exception. 

[TheShader]

A lot of older Latino/Hispanic people lean conservative thanks to their strict catholic(Meixcan) and Evangelical(South American) upbringing. Younger demographics lean more liberal, but as we all know younger people don't vote. A lot of Mexican-American people(Again, especially older)love the Republican party in general because they imagine the party of Reagan who was good to the Mexican immigrant community by granting mass Permanent Residence status to undocumented Mexican immigrants.

 

There's also a large demographic of Latino/Hispanic individuals that want to leave their heritage behind and become 'American', and unfortunately the image of what 'American' is has been largely dominated by people who say White male Republicans are the American ideal.

 

Finally, we're having a large portion of 2nd and 3rd born generations that are far removed from their roots of coming to America as an immigrant as well as the labor movement by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

 

In short, it's a mix of a few things, and that's the long and the short of a lot of it.

[Zaku3]

Just now, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Also worth noting that evangelical Christianity is spreading in a big way in South America and in the US as the Catholic Church is continually mired in scandal. Evangelicals vote strongly with republicans and from the polling Latinos are no exception. 

 

Not gonna lie liberation theology should be on the upswing instead.

[TheShader]

Also a huge uphill battle is a lot of the older generation REALLY buys into the culture war BS. A large portion of the community in California are willing to die on the abortion hill, and the anti-LGBTQ stuff is just an extra little treat as the homophobia is still very prominent in the older generations.

[stepee]

give them money 

[TheShader]

6 minutes ago, stepee said:

give them money 

Hilariously they do via funding allocations for specific things in their communities, but then they never properly advertise it. There was recently a push by the California state party to advertise high speed internet funded thanks to Dems in the Latino communities and I don't think I've seen a single billboard/sign in my communities despite there supposed to being hundreds out there.

 

So a lot of this money becomes background noise to people who don't keep up with politic, and a lot of times even those that keep their ear to the ground. And a lot of these communities have been historically represented by Republicans(Stares at David Valadao and Devin Nunes), and don't underestimate the efficacy of doing absolutely nothing for your constituents while saying 'The Dems did this to you, please continue to vote for me to fight against the Dems who aren't giving you potable drinking water.' A lot of communities have never been properly represented and don't know what it's like to have people in office actually helping them, and don't realize that's because their representatives are Republicans that aren't working for them.

 

Oh, also a lot of factory workers are straight up afraid to vote Dems because the factory owners will threaten them with their jobs if they vote Dems. Also, yes, I know this is illegal. Welcome to America, no one is stopping them and workers go into the voting booth genuinely scared their boss will know who they voted for if they vote Dem.

[Ghost_MH]

1 hour ago, LazyPiranha said:

Latinos love Jesus

 

This is the end of the thread. The only reason the GOP doesn't run away with Latinx Americans is because their xenophobia.

 

The GOP's extra focus on LGBT community and Bible thumping as of late may be hurting them with white Americans that are becoming less and less religious every year, but that's probably a wash due to their gains with Spanish-speaking Christians in this country.

[TheShader]

9 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

This is the end of the thread. The only reason the GOP doesn't run away with Latinx Americans is because their xenophobia.

 

The GOP's extra focus on LGBT community and Bible thumping as of late may be hurting them with white Americans that are becoming less and less religious every year, but that's probably a wash due to their gains with Spanish-speaking Christians in this country.

For older generations, yes. Younger generations are slowly moving more and more towards either agnostic or hippy Jesus as opposed to supply-side Jesus. But, again, young people don't vote. Like a lot of issues, it's also very nuanced and there's a lot of moving parts involved.

 

Also, to the larger question posited, it's also nuanced with a lot of moving parts. There isn't an easy band-aid solution to this. Which is why there's a lot of work already being done in this department, but it feels very invisible. The answer isn't a simple 'Make a TV ad during the Superbowl' or 'Promise taco trucks on every corner'.

 

And all that isn't including the fact that Trumpism really has turned into a Cult. People who would not have voted Republican in a million years 10 years ago have now gone spiraled down the MAGA conspiracy black hole. Which is a whole other issue that needs to be addressed and fixed in our nation, especially as it's crossed over racial lines by a lot over the last couple years. I've even seen leaders in the local Dem community that fell hard into the Q-hole once the pandemic started and pushed away hard from the Dem party. I think it wildly gets understated how much it has infected our society.

[TheShader]

I guess I should take a step back and clarify that my knowledge and experience is largely around California, which is much more largely Mexican and South American with Cuban immigrants being a significantly smaller slice of our population than Florida. Also, even just here in California, it's impossible to brush every Latino with one broad stroke, and that doesn't change when it comes to specifically talking about Cubans in Florida which is an entirely different culture and experience altogether.

 

So I don't pretend to talk on the experience of Floridians, but can very much talk to the experience in California as well as the steps that are being taken and still need to be taken. However, I don't doubt that just like here it can be a very difficult and nuanced conversation of what needs to be done and what is currently being done. Although whatever IS being done I guarantee most people here won't have insight into, as much of the work in the political world isn't large sweeping things you see on national television. They're very small and concentrated fights, paperwork/bureaucracy, and other things that will never make even the local news.

 

In any given place, in any given demographic, the work that needs to be done is often slow, tedious, and is being done by a handful of people taking on a mountain of work.

[Reputator]

Stop talking so much about abortions?

[TheShader]

8 minutes ago, Reputator said:

Stop talking so much about abortions?

Ironically it's generally the opposite, Dems tend to be too afraid to discuss abortion rights and women's reproductive health as a whole. It's considered a lost battle in Latino communities, and because of that misinformation and women's reproductive health as a whole is allowed to run rampant in the communities, leading to higher rates of Latino voters willing to die on the hill. 

[SuperSpreader]

Ppl are stupid in every color. - Mexican proverb (written by me just now.)

[TheShader]

Just now, SuperSpreader said:

Ppl are stupid in every color. - Mexican proverb (written by me just now.)

I'm stealing that. It's mine now 

 

La gente es estúpida en todos los colores.

[SuperSpreader]

La gente es pendejada cualquier color. 

[Kal-El814]

Detras de ti imbecil!

 

All the Spanish I know I learned from RE4.

 

But even I know enough to know this is a bad idea.

 

[Signifyin(g)Monkey]

1 hour ago, TheShader said:

Also a huge uphill battle is a lot of the older generation REALLY buys into the culture war BS. A large portion of the community in California are willing to die on the abortion hill, and the anti-LGBTQ stuff is just an extra little treat as the homophobia is still very prominent in the older generations.

This is why I’m finding it difficult to envision what a proper response would be.  This applies to more than just the Latino demographic, too.  How do you break into the information ecosystem where the seeds of culture war hysteria are being watered?   In many cases they are literally algorithmically engineered to filter out any attempt to introduce contravening messages.  
 

If a Democratic candidate says “No, I don’t want to defund the police department”, and it never makes it through the Facebook feed algorithm’s filter, and someone gets all their news from Facebook…did it happen?  For that person?

 

I really don’t know what the trick to breaking up such informational feedback loops is—or if such a trick even exists at all at this particular technocultural moment.

[TheShader]

9 minutes ago, Signifyin(g)Monkey said:

I really don’t know what the trick to breaking up such informational feedback loops is—or if such a trick even exists at all at this particular technocultural moment.

The answer is as simple as it is complex. Which is year-round organizing, which the Dems are traditionally terrible at, but there is a growing movement across the country to push for it nationally. The problem Dems have had for a long time is they don't actually reach out to the communities until it's 3  months to a General Election at which point people get bombarded with the force of a neutron star, and then the campaigns and parties pack of their organizing efforts immediately the day after the election is over.

 

Absolutely nothing beats the face-to-face interaction with people. The problem with these ecosystems is it makes it very easy to have people get stuck in their houses with zero human interaction and have their only experience of the larger world being fed to them through Fox News/OAN/Facebook/Etc. Even the tiniest bit of consistent face-to-face makes a huge difference, as reality becomes harder to ignore when it's knocking on your front door and talking to you directly.

 

And of course you won't save everyone this way, but it can and will go a very long way in pulling people from the edge.

[marioandsonic]

I'm not looking forward to 2024 when the GOP takes control of the house, senate, and WH.  From then on, they'll just reject any election results that they don't agree with.  Once that happens,  we're fucked.

[TheShader]

1 hour ago, marioandsonic said:

I'm not looking forward to 2024 when the GOP takes control of the house, senate, and WH.  From then on, they'll just reject any election results that they don't agree with.  Once that happens,  we're fucked.

Pessimism and cynicism are the death of Democracy. The 2024 General Elections are 600 days away. Betting on Republicans to take both chambers of Congress and the WH right now would be more insane than waking up tomorrow and betting the house on who will win the 2025 Superbowl.

[marioandsonic]

13 minutes ago, TheShader said:

Pessimism and cynicism are the death of Democracy. The 2024 General Elections are 600 days away. Betting on Republicans to take both chambers of Congress and the WH right now would be more insane than waking up tomorrow and betting the house on who will win the 2025 Superbowl.

Give me 5 reasons to be optimistic about the 2024 elections.  I'll wait.

[TheShader]

6 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Give me 5 reasons to be optimistic about the 2024 elections.  I'll wait.

I will not, because nothing I say will change your stance. If you ever want to have an honest discussion then I am always open. If you want to just walk into a discussion so you can piss over everything and high-five yourself, then I have better things to do with my time.

[marioandsonic]

Fair enough.  I'll wallow in my own pessimism then.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Give me 5 reasons to be optimistic about the 2024 elections.  I'll wait.

The GOP blew a slam dunk wave mid term because their policies simply aren’t as popular as the Democratic Party’s policies are X 5

[LazyPiranha]

5 hours ago, marioandsonic said:

Give me 5 reasons to be optimistic about the 2024 elections.  I'll wait.

There’s a not insignificant chance that Trump dies of a massive coronary