1. 1A Across America: The Power Of The Latino Vote
  2. Key takeaways about Latino voters in the 2018 midterm elections

For this post I decided to pick two articles. The second article focuses more on the statistics revolving Latino voter turn out for the 2018 elections, whereas the first article looks more at how immigration being at the forefront of many politicians rhetoric has impacted the Latino vote. Since this week’s readings/content was focused on Latino backlash, I thought that since the first article didn’t have much on stats surrounding this, I supplemented it with the second article. When referring to “latino backlash,” this weeks readings/content talk about this in terms of  the long-term effects of having immigration at the forefront of political rhetoric and how that affects Latino political involvement.

In the first article, 1A Across America: The Power of The Latino Vote, the author talks about the turnout of latino voters to the polls, especially considering that in 2020, Latinos are predicted to make up the largest non-white voting population in the US. However, Latino voter turn-out has historically wavered, due to various reasons, which is another aspect which the article touches upon. In the piece we hear from various political figures and their opinions on why Latino voter turn out will keep increasing, as well as what it will/has meant for the US.

The second article, Key takeaways about Latino voters in the 2018 midterm elections, from the Pew Research Center, breaks down trends seen within the Latino voter-turn out. More specifically the article looks at: first-time voters, party affiliation, gender gap, increasing eligible & registered voters, and the flipping of seats as a result of the percentage of Latino voters.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What influences, aside from the increase in xenophobic rhetoric, could have caused more Latinos to participate in the 2018 midterm elections? Do you foresee this as a trend that will continue as a result?
  2. What if this xenophobic rhetoric decreases? Will the Latino vote still keep increasing or will it plateau?
  3. While the increase in xenophobic rhetoric surrounding immigration has increased in the US, to what extent do you believe this has actually increased Latino voter turn out?