Hispanic heavyweights try to swing young Latino voters
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 30.
The Republican and Democratic National Conventions have come to a close, but not before both parties made their best appeals to Latino voters. Both the RNC and DNC gave Latino speakers significant airtime.
“Everybody’s trying to get us [Latinos],” recent college graduate Alyson Cadena said. “I’m not buying it.”
“Whoever holds the new [young] Latino vote, assuming they will vote, will hold the election in their hands,” Alex Avalos said, a senior at Fordham University.
More than 12 million Hispanics are expected to vote in the general election, according to the non-partisan National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials as reported in Paste BN. A recent Gallup poll showed that 29% of registered Hispanics are supporting Romney, while 61% are supporting Barack Obama’s re-election bid.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who was once on the short list for the Republican vice-presidential nomination, had the task of introducing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney at the Tampa convention.
In his speech Rubio recalled his family history of immigration and the pursuit of the American Dream. Anecdotes about his Cuban grandfather and his parents working blue-collar jobs ring true to many first-generation Americans, including Latino Americans.
“My Dad used to tell us: En este pais, ustedes van a poder lograr todas las cosas que nosotros no pudimos,” Rubio said. “In this country, you will be able to accomplish all the things we never could.”
It is a mantra that many Latinos can apply to their lives across party lines. In his keynote address in Charlotte, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro expressed similar sentiments about opportunity and struggle.
"My grandmother never owned a house," he said. "She cleaned other people's houses so she could afford to rent her own."
“Although I personally connected more to Julian Castro's speech than Marco Rubio's speech, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he was named the keynote speaker of the DNC to secure more Hispanic voters,” Francesco Ferro said, a first-time voter from the University of Florida.
In addition to Castro, Obama’s Latino allies include actress Eva Longoria, who serves as co-chair for his re-election campaign and spoke at the DNC Thursday evening, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
“Honestly, I don't think the celebrity treatment of Hispanics is entirely helpful,” Ferro said. “Sure, it's nice to see more and more Hispanics becoming more prominent in politics but just because someone is a Hispanic Republican or Democrat doesn't automatically mean I'll share their beliefs or point of view.”
“You can try to convince us [Latinos], but if your platform has repeatedly been one we don’t agree with, I really doubt you’re going to change,” Cadena said, an Obama supporter. “I don’t want to vote for a Mexican if he’s on the opposing team.”
In a Colbert Report appearance Richardson spoke out about the treatment of Hispanics during the campaigns.
“Hispanics want to be treated like mainstream Americans,” Richardson said.
Sarah Ramirez is a Fall 2012 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.
This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.