|
|
 |
Hispanic Media Editors See Conservative Tilt in Hispanic Votes
First of 3 Pacific News Service Survey of Ethnic Media Reaction to
the 2004 Elections
By Mary Jo McConahay and Elena Shore, Pacific News
Service
To get behind the story of why so many more Hispanics voted for
President Bush this election compared to last, PNS contacted newsrooms
of Spanish-language media and found a community concerned with
traditional Democratic issues, but one also connected to moral issues
sounded by the GOP.
November 8, 2004 - Hispanics voted for President Bush in greater
numbers than even Republicans hoped for. A Los Angeles Times exit poll
showed that nationally, Bush got 45 percent of their vote -- a seven
percentage point gain over the president's take in the 2000 elections
(54 percent voted for Kerry).
According to Pilar Marrero, political columnist for Spanish-language
daily La Opinión in Los Angeles, Republicans in the area organized in
Spanish-language evangelical churches to get the conservative, religious
Latino vote. Though Latinos usually say they care about social issues
such as education, health and the economy, Marrero says, Republicans won
on the strength of the war on terror, the fear that Kerry could not
sustain the war, and an appeal to conservative, religious Latinos by
focusing on moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion.
In San Diego, editor Daniel Munoz Jr. of La Prensa San Diego agrees the
war on terrorism affected Hispanic voters, suggesting Kerry was "just
not able to get his message to stick" about the economy, jobs, and other
domestic issues. Munoz believes Democrats took the community for
granted. Despite the 30-year-old paper's early and strong endorsement of
John Kerry, Republican Party representatives and offices of local
Republican candidates maintained communication with the paper during the
campaign. Yet with the exception of contact from the office of incumbent
U.S. senator Barbara Boxer, La Prensa received not a single call or
visit on behalf of local or national Democrat candidates, said Munoz.
According to Marrero, both parties effectively ignored La Opinion, which
has one of the nation's largest Spanish-language readership.
"The party has lost step with those who have the most reason to vote
Democratic," said Munoz. "Hispanics see the need for government and
health benefits, but also want to see moral backbone on issues they care
about."
The Mexican American community is less comfortable than some other
Democrats with the gay marriage issue, for instance, according to Munoz.
In the run-up to the election, La Prensa ran a series reporting on the
loss of civil liberties in the Bush administration. While the threat of
rights erosion affects the community as a whole, "it's an issue you
can't feel or touch unless it hits you personally," suggests Munoz. The
gay marriage and lifestyle issue, however "is all around and on TV and
strikes an emotional chord."
"They've left behind Democrats who have a little Republican in them."
The successful Arizona initiative denying some services to undocumented
immigrants reflects the fear of growth of the Hispanic community, said
Munoz, much as the famous passage of California's proposition 187 --
later struck down -- did in the l990s. Yet for many Hispanics, Democrats
are not doing anything to address or alleviate the fears of
conservatives.
An exception to the slow rise of support for Republicans among Hispanics
may be the Florida surprise: Republicans lost their overwhelming command
of the Cuban and Latino vote in Florida, says Joaquim Utset, political
writer for El Nuevo Herald, a Miami-based Spanish-language daily owned
by Knight Ridder. According to the New Democratic Network, Bush won 55
percent of Florida's Latino vote, down from 65 percent in 2000, Utset
says.
Utset attributes this shift to Bush's increasingly extreme restrictions
on travel and sending money to Cuba, which prevented many Cubans in
Florida from visiting their families.
The older generation of Cubans in Florida is also decreasing in number
as the younger generation is growing, says Marrero. The young still
oppose Fidel Castro, Marrero says, but they have concerns such as health
care, education and the economy that make them less inclined to vote
Republican.
Most importantly, Marrero says, the Latino vote in Florida is becoming
more diverse, with non-Cuban Latinos (who tend to vote Democratic)
growing in number. If Florida continues the current shift towards an
expanding population of non-Cuban Latinos, and a growing population of
younger Cubans, Marrero says, Florida may shift to vote Democratic in
the future.
Mary Jo McConahay is a writer and editor for
Pacific News Service. Elena Shore is a writer and editor for New
California Media, a nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media
organizations representing the development of a more inclusive
journalism.
|
