Are Democrats Off Message When it Comes to Latinos?

WEBVTT SOLEDAD: THE LATINO VOTE HAS BEEN CREDITED WITH MAKING THE DIFFERENCE IN RECENT ELECTIONS – IN ELECTING GEORGE W. BUSH 2004 AND BARACK OBAMA IN 2012. THERE ARE 29 MILLION LATINOS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN THE US IN WHILE MOST ARE IN CALIFORNIA, TEXAS , AND FLORIDA, NORTH CAROLINA IS ALSO SEEING A BIG ELIGIBLE LATINO VOTERS GOAL DESPITE THESIS INCREASES, THE NUMBER OF LATINOS WHO ACTUALLY VOTE IN MIDTERMS HAS BEEN DECLINING SINCE 2006. CHIQUI CARTAGENA IS AN EXPERT IN UNDERSTANDING THE LATINO MARKET AND THE AUTHOR OF A TWO BOOKS ON THE LATINO BOO IT IS LIKE TO HAVE YOU. GIVE ME THE SENSE OF THE LATINO VOTER. CHIQUI: WELL, AS YOU WELL SAID, 29 MILLION ARE ELIGIBLE. GOAL LET ME PUT THAT NUMBER IN PERSPECTIVE. THERE ARE 60 MILLION LATINOS I THIS COUNTRY. 85% BY THE WAY ARE CITIZENS. THE OTHER 15% ARE ON THE WAY OF BECOMING CITIZENS. GOAL, ONLY 20 MILLION OF THE 29 MILLION ELIGIBLE GOLD ACTUALLY REGISTERED TO VOTE AND OF THOSE 20 MILLION, 20% OF THOSE ARE VERY, VERY YOUNG. BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 29, WHICH AS YOU KNOW, YOUNGER VOTERS TEND NOT TO VOTE SO MUCH. THE REAL LATINO VOTERS TEND TO BE OLDER AND TEND TO BE MORE SPANISH DOMINANT. SOLEDAD: EVERYONE SAYS THIS ELECTION WILL HINGE ON VOTE TURNOUT. AND YET, LATINO VOTER TURNOUT IS CONSISTENTLY LOW. PEOPLE PREDICT HIG PEOPLE SAY THEY'RE GOING TO. THIS ELECTION IS GOING TO BE THE ONE. AND LATINOS DO NOT TURN OUT TO VOTE. WHY NOT? CHIQUI: WHEN LATINOS ARE ENGAGED, THEY ACTUALLY DOES VOTE AND WE'VE SEEN THAT IN MANY CASES. THE PROBLEM IS THAT AS OF SEPTEMBER 25, SIX OUT OF 10 LATINOS HAD NOT BEEN CONTACTED BY EITHER PARTY BY ANY COMMITTEE OR BY ANY CANDIDATE. SO IF THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ISSUES ARE, IF THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE CANDIDATES ARE REPRESENTING, THEY'RE NOT GOI TO GO VOTE. THEY'RE SCARED NOT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. SOLEDAD: THERE WAS A SENSE WHEN THE RHETORIC IN THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS SO HARSH AROUND LATINOS WHAT IT WOULD PUSH LATINOS TO GO TO THE POLLS IT DID NOT HAPPEN. CHIQUI: YOU WOULD THINK THAT YOU KNOW TRUMP US CALLING RAPISTS. AND THE REALITY IS THAT IMMIGRATION IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE TO LATINOS. AND SO EDUCATION, HEALTH CAR JOBS AND THE ECONOMY ARE THE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE, SO THEY WANT TO HEAR CANDIDATES TALKING ABOUT THOSE THINGS. IMMIGRATION REALLY IS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM NOT TO LATINO PROBLEM, RIGHT. LATINOS ARE INVOLVED BECAUSE OF THE ANTI-LATINO RHETORIC, GOAL MOST LATINOS ARE CITIZENS AND THEREFORE THEY'RE GOING TO VOTE ON POCKETBOOK ISSUES. SOLEDAD: YOU'VE SAID THAT DEMOCRATS TAKE LATINOS FOR GRANTED AND YET THE WAY THE DEMOCRATS ON THE RECORD WILL SAY THAT'S JUST NOT TRUE. CHIQUI: DEMOCRATS AN REPUBLICANS ARE BOTH USING THE SAME PLAYBOOK THAT THEY WERE USING 50 YEARS AGO. AND UNFORTUNATELY, THE DEMOGRAPHICS HAVE CHANGED. TODAY, HOW CAN YOU RUN A CAMPAIGN IN CALIFORNIA WHERE 40%, 50% OF YOUR ELECTORATE IS LATINO AND NOT RUN TO HISPANIC CAMPAIGN. SOLEDAD: COULD REPUBLICANS MAKE MORE HEADWAY WITH LATINOS TH THEY'RE MAKING RIGHT NOW? CHIQUI: THEY COULD AND THEY SHOULD, YOU KNOW. LATINOS CAN NOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TO DONKEY AN AN ELEPHANT. BOTH PARTS HAVE DONE A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE JOB OF THEY STAND FOR NOT WHO THEY'RE AGAINST OR WHAT THEY'RE AGAINST, WHAT THEY STAND FOR. SOLEDAD: THERE IS A THEORY THA SAYS THAT PEOPLE PUT THEIR ENERGY AND THEIR MONEY INTO GOING BACK TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO CONSISTENTLY TURN OUT IN ELECTIONS RIGHT. SO DO YOU HAVE NOT CONSISTENTLY VOTED THEN EVERYBODY SAYS WELL, LET'S NOT PUT OUR ENERGY INTO THIS DEMOGRAPHIC. IS THAT ESSENTIALLY WHAT'S HAPPENING? CHIQUI: IT'S A CATCH-22 BECAUSE LATINOS ARE A LOW PROPENSITY VOTERS. THEY DO NOT GET THE ATTENTION THEY NEED FROM THE CAMPAIGNS SINCE THEY DO NOT GET THE ATTENTION THEY NEED FOR THE CAMPAIGN. THEY BECOME LOW PROPENSITY VOTERS. SO, SOMEBODY HAS GOT TO BREAK THAT VICIOUS CYCLE AND IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOMEBODY WITH CAJONES TO SAY WHETHER THAT'S THE DNC OR THE RNC OR BOTH TO SAY I WANT THESE VOTERS AND I'M GOING TO GO GET THEM. I'M GOING TO START NOW WE'VE ALSO SEEN THAT EARLY ENGAGEMENT HELPS. WHEN OBAMA WAS RUNNING HIS RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN 2012, HE WAS KNOWN AS THE DEPORTER IN CHIEF, RIGHT. WELL, HE STARTED IN APRIL. HIS POSITIVE MESSAGING USING PEOPLE MESSENGERS, LATINOS WHO COULD TALK ABOUT WHAT HE DOING FOR THE LATINO COMMUNITY. AND BY THE TIME THE ELECTION CAME, HE WON 72% OF THE VOTE, GOAL HE STARTED OFF REALLY UPSIDE DOWN WITH THE LATINO POPULATION AND HE WAS ABLE TO FIX IT BY CONTINUOUS MESSAGING AND POSITIVE MESSAGING ABOUT WHAT HE