The midterm elections are held next Tuesday and various analysts have pointed to the Latino vote as a crucial element for the candidates.
Despite the many Latinos eligible to vote, the percentage of them who go to the polls is around two-thirds, so the speculation about who will vote this day is unknown.
In 2020, the election saw a dramatic rise in registration and voting by some 18.7 million Latinos, so that about 1 in 10 voters was Latino.
“The Latino vote, the Latino population is rapidly becoming the largest ethnic plurality in America,” said Mike Madrid, the co-founder of The Lincoln Project and a republican political consultant who follows Latino and Hispanic voting trends.
He said both Republican and Democratic parties are still learning about the intricacies within this racial demographic that makes up 34.5 million eligible voters, about 14% of the U.S. electorate in 2022 according to Pew Research.
“The main myth about the Latino vote is that to talk to Latinos, talk about immigration is the way to capture the vote it’s never really been the case,” Madrid said.
Top Issues for many voters he said are the economy and abortion, but a number of campaigns still approach Latino voters with flawed perspectives.
“With abortion, the old stereotype was that this is a Catholic community; very pro-life. The truth of the matter is that’s never been accurate,” he said.
The median age for eligible Latino voters is 39, which is nine years younger than the median age of all voters according to Pew Research. Polls indicate neither party put enough resources into reaching Latino voters.
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