Recent polls reveal that the race for president is very close as the November election approaches, so significant efforts will be devoted by both the Harris and Trump campaigns to target voter segments that could tip the scales in their favor. The Harris campaign recently visited the Texas border to demonstrate its commitment to controlling illegal immigration and just announced that they will initiate a Latino advertising campaign to engage this important voter segment. However, gaining more Latino voter support is likely to be fruitless if campaign strategists rely on the same tactics used to engage Latino voters in past political campaigns, especially in the current toxic environment that is constantly demonizing Latinos. Following are some tactical points suggested from past research that the Harris campaign should consider to enhance Latino voter support.
As shown by this figure, Pew Research projected that there will be 36.2 million Latinos who are eligible to vote in November 2024, representing 14.7 percent of all eligible voters. Native-born Latinos represent 76 percent of these eligible voters, while naturalized U.S. citizens (foreign-born segment) represent 24 percent. Why is this important? Because past campaigns have often designed their Latino campaigns primarily with Spanish-language messages that are more relevant to foreign-born voters and assumed that existing English-language messages for general audiences would be effective in communicating with native-born Latino voters. Decades of past research, however, confirms that native-born Latinos primarily consume English-language media and have a fragile grasp of the Spanish language. This long-standing misperception about language usage has resulted in substantially fewer advertising expenditures placed in English-language media that is consumed more frequently by native-born Latino voters. Clearly, a more balanced media strategy is needed that concentrates on the larger segment of Latino eligible voters who communicate primarily in English.
Messaging: In recent debates and campaign
advertisements, the Harris campaign has devoted minimal attention to
challenging the constant demonizing of Latinos with falsehoods, while an
immediate challenge was made about the falsehoods related to Haitian immigrants
in Springfield Ma. More trust in Kamala Harris would likely result if future Harris
campaign ads and public appearances would challenge the constant falsehoods
about Latinos, such as:
·
Jobs are being taken away from American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, immigrants
in large part take jobs that U.S. born American workers do not want due to lower
wages or dangerous working conditions. Foreign-born workers, especially the
undocumented, are concentrated in jobs that are essential to the economy, such
as construction, food, farming and services. Without immigrant labor, the cost
of housing, food and other essential services would rise significantly for
American consumers. Instead of taking
jobs from American workers, thousands of U.S. jobs are generated each year by the
fast-growing immigrant-owned businesses.
·
Illegal immigrants into the U.S. include many
criminals that are leading to rising crime rates. The Cato
Institute, experts in the study of crime rates and immigration status,
concluded in their 2024 study of illegal immigration and homicide rates that
native-born Texans had a homicide rate that was 26 percent higher than illegal
immigrants. Similar trends in crime rates have been observed in other U.S.
communities.
· An invasion by illegal immigrants at the southern border continues to increase and poses a continuing threat. According to a recent report from the U.S. Custom and Border Protection, border encounters decreased substantially over the past fiscal year from 240,932 in October 2023 to 104,116 in July 2024 – a 77 percent decrease – primarily due to the Biden administration executive actions to shut of access to the U.S. asylum system for migrants who enter illegally.
Perhaps it is time to retire the
traditional messaging used in past political campaigns and replace it with more
relevant messages that underscore the significant contributions made by Latinos
to the U.S. Economists confirm that illegal immigrants, for example, have paid
millions into the Social Security and Medicare systems that has helped keep
them in a better financial position since undocumented immigrants pay taxes into
these systems but are not qualified to receive the benefits. In states like Texas with a high
concentration of immigrants, immigrant spending power in 2014 was $89.6 billion
that resulted in $29.1 billion in tax contributions to the state. In cities like Dallas, Texas where immigrants
comprise 23 percent of the population, immigrant households earned $10,7
billion in income of which $1.6 billion were paid to federal taxes and $900.6
million to state and local taxes, according to the Economic Impact Report: New
Americans. Lastly, in times of war, immigrants have defended the nation in
every major conflict and proven to be an invaluable resource due to their knowledge
of different languages and cultures.
In her recent visit to the Texas
border, Kamala Harris focused attention on stronger enforcement of immigration
enforcement at the border and placed secondary importance on the process of
providing a pathway to legalize immigrants.
However, she also emphasized that America is a land of immigrants
– a reminder that immigrants of all backgrounds have a history of helping to
build this country. Would reminding Latino voters and non-Latino voters about
these significant contributions tip the scales in favor of Kamala Harris? I believe it would.
Note: I welcome your feedback. Please send your comments to edward@rinconassoc.com
Edward T. Rincón, Ph.D.
Please visit our website to learn more about our multicultural research services. www.rinconassoc.com
