We are less than a month from the elections and all eyes will be on the Latino vote. I know you all have heard this ad nauseam for more than three years, but it is all coming to a head now. This is especially true since the race has substantially tightened up after President Obama’s lackluster 1st presidential debate (be assured a very different Barack Obama will show up at the next one ladies!).
So have the numbers of Latinos supporting President Obama changed since that first debate? Highly doubtful. The polls have shown such a tremendous Latino gap that it will be tough for Governor Romney to make up any ground. The last Latino Decisions poll had Obama at 72% and Romney at 20%, the latest NBC New Telemundo poll had President Obama at 70% and Romney at 20%, and the latest CNN/ORC Poll had Obama at 70% and Romney at 26%.
A new Mamiverse survey released just this week shows even more bad news for Governor Romney. It showed a jaw-dropping 92% of Latina moms supporting President Obama. This survey was done on this site and answered by our readers who are a great representative sample of engaged, online bilingual/English dominant Latina moms out there.
We already know anecdotally just how powerful an influence a Latina mom can be and that can translate into swaying our friends and family on who to support in this election. But according to research being done by the National Association of Latino Appointed and Elected Officials (NALEO), our power goes further and to an even more important degree. NALEO’s new research shows that Latina Moms are the greatest “influencers” in convincing family members who are not voters to actually go out and vote. Now this, dear mamis, is real power!
Read Related: Can Michelle Obama’s Mamiverse Chat Win the Latino Vote?
Other highlights of the Mamiverse online survey include:
- 57.9% said that they get their information about the election, the candidates, and their views through the internet, social media and websites. Although President Obama is heavily favored within this segment of the Latino community, 71.7% of group surveyed also said that a woman would make a better president than a man, and that 50.9% expect to see a Hispanic president within the next ten years.
- Top of mind for Latinas in this year’s election are the economy (33.3%), education (26.3%), and healthcare (26.3%). In the area of fixing the economy, 77.2% are in favor of a higher tax rate for wealthier Americans. Regarding Obamacare, 48.2% are in favor of it, while 39.3% are in favorite of it with changes.
- 52.6% said that the president’s spouse could influence their vote. As you recall, In July, Michelle Obama reached out to this very important Latina demographic and conducted a chat which I had the honor of moderating for this site with Latina moms, to talk about these same issues.
- With the majority of respondents in the 36-45 year old category at 43.9%, their views include concern about Medicare (78.2% want to keep it as is and fund it through taxes, elimination of programs and cutbacks in other areas), 84.2% are very concerned about the future of Social Security, and education (57.1% would like fewer children in a classroom).
- A resounding 73.8% felt that the issue of a woman’s right to choose and strengthening reproductive health and freedom for women is of importance in this election. 87.8% felt that they would definitely not vote for Romney/Ryan because they oppose abortion.
- These results really give us insight as to why President Obama enjoys such a big lead over Governor Romney. And the answer is twofold: First, overwhelmingly, the policies that President Obama supports align with what is important to Latina moms—from education, to the economy, to Medicare and healthcare. Latinas have been smart to educate themselves on what the effects to them and their families would be of each of the candidates’ policies.
Secondly, like the majority of Latinos, Latina moms see that President Obama and the Democrats have been so much better at communicating that message aggressively and effectively to Latinos all around the country—from TV ads, to chats on Mamiverse by First Lady Michelle Obama, to community town hall meetings in key states like Colorado, Florida and Nevada, to tapping Latina leaders as surrogates like the legendary Dolores Huerta and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis among many others.
So ladies, in this election, more than ever, the Latino vote will be heard. This survey gives an important glimpse into what Latina moms are thinking and what is important for us and our families. It also underscores a critical truth—that Latinos, and increasingly Latina moms can be the deciding factor in this very close election.
To ensure this will be the case however, it is in our hands to educate our fellow Latinas, our communities, our friends, families and networks, to make sure everyone goes out and gets registered to vote if you haven’t already. Some of the laws have changed. Know what documents you need to get registered. If there is early voting in your state, go take advantage of it and take a bunch of familia and amigas with you while you are at it! If you need any additional information on how to register or where to go to vote, please visit Advancement Project—Protect Our Vote.
Let’s go vote! Vamos a votar chicas!
I must say, this article makes me very sad, to know that so many Latinas support a president and a party that in recent years has done nothing to help them and so much to condemn them to a less-free life. Part of this, I think, comes from the biased media outlets that cater to Latinas: Univision, the main-stream media, and non-cable news channels. Let me just mention a few issues here. ObamaCare would inevitably lead to a single-payer system by slowly forcing private insurance companies to go bankrupt and for employers to not provide subsidized heath care plans for their employees. This forces everyone to have only one choice for health care, the government, who then can make any decisions they want for a helpless populace that has NO FREEDOM to choose what is best for them and their family. As far as abortion, Obama supports abortion at any time for any reason, even to the day before a baby is due, and if for some reason (God, maybe?) the baby survives, he has five times! supported legislation that prevents doctors or nurses from intervening to save the child. That’s right, he would legally prevent a doctor to uphold the Hippocratic Oath and force providers to leave a newborn baby to die in a dishpan of exposure and dehydration, like so much human WASTE. What FREEDOM does this helpless baby have? Finally, our president is anxious to support school unions to LIMIT school choice, which allows our already failing schools to continue that legacy with no competition. Poor Latinas are already forced to send their children to whatever school the district lines say they must for their neighborhood. They have no say, and therefore NO FREEDOM. They cannot even complain to the school because the school does not care; they will get the tax dollars regardless. Get it? Progressive Democrats = Less Freedom, Less Choice, Less Personal Responsibility.
Is this really what Latinas want? Please see what the Governor of New Mexico, Susanna Martinez, has to say about being a Republican. She also thought she was a Democrat, until she found out what they really stand for.
Linda you are not alone!
Republicans always ASSume that minorities who don’t vote for them must be brainwashed by the media. I hate to break this to you. but people are perfectly capable of making up their own minds and casting their votes accordingly. Obama is not that great, and he has lied about many things, but he is better than Romney who just wants to privatize everything, and ship anything that isn’t nailed down to China. In addition, Republicans make vicious, racist comments about Latinos on the campaign trail and in the media. They can take a flying leap.
As far as abortion goes, Roe v Wade is the law.
As for school choice, you have choice right now. if you want your children to attend a private school, you have the choice of applying and paying for it yourself. You bash the government, but you want the governent to cut you a check to attend private school. Nobody is limiting your freedom. What you don’t understand is that freedom isn’t free. .
The reason that public schools are in such trouble is that they have been defunded over the last several decades. We spend less per capita per child than we did a generation ago. Frankly, I don’t see that changing no matter who is elected. Both parties want to destroy public education, and put children in some for-profit “charter” school. Soon people will have to take out loans for high school just like they do for college.
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Let me answer your claims, just for the record. I expect everyone to make up their own minds once they know the truth. That’s the problem; the media does not brainwash people but does spin what they want us to hear, so it is difficult to find out what is true and what is not. About privatization, yes, I agree with access to choices for everyone, and anything run by the government is by default, a monopoly and therefore not a choice. I don’t mind if a government solution is one of the choices, but I do not agree with government takeovers, because then they have all of the control and take no responsibility for any unintended consequences. The Obama administration has actually sent much of the business over which it has control, like General Motors and subsidies for electric cars, ethanol, and oil production, to other countries, although Obama says he has not. He cancelled a contract for the pipeline to bring oil here from Canada and refine it here, while moving this business to Brazil, along with other contracts to make ethanol, which also could have stayed here. He authorized GM to send new car contracts to China and subsidized Fiskars to make cars in Finland, while forcing thousands of GM non-union car dealerships here in the US to go out of business. This is not the same as a private business who must move operations overseas to avoid regulations in order to stay in business. No one wants to move their business overseas; it costs more and is difficult to manage, but it is better than having to go bankrupt. About Roe vs Wade, yes, it IS the law, but that does not mean that it is either ethical, moral, or right. Roe vs Wade was decided in an effort to “clean up” botched abortions by unlicensed providers, but the justices did not realize that in just a few years the abortion levels would rise to become a new kind of birth control and destroy an entire generation of Americans. Also, Roe vs Wade does not determine WHEN abortions should happen. Romney would leave these details up to the states so that people would have a choice. Your analysis of school choice is flawed. Of course parents can choose to pay to put their children into private schools, but our Constitution guarantees a “free and adequate public education”. This is why I do condone checks from the government to allow parents to send their children where they wish, to promote competition between schools. These checks are what they would spend anyway, per student; the parents would be allowed to have their choice as to where the money would go. Also, more money is spent per child on education now than ever before, but how it is spent is what has changed. This varies state-to-state, so the public must basically force their state to allocate the money the way they wish. Also, charter schools are not for profit and get their funding the same way all public schools do, based on attendance, but have varying curriculum whose “charter” must be approved by the state. This allows them to be flexible in how they teach and be able to experiment in which methods work best. They also can screen prospective students AND parents, to choose who they wish, and expel those students who consistently misbehave.
I appreciate your comments. Also, I am retired and have the time to listen to many news sources, but I have not heard one instance in which a Republican leader has bashed or made racist comments publicly about Latinos. I would be insulted as well, as I am a Latina, and would have called out the speaker. If you have examples, please send them to me: linda.armijo@hotmail.com.