Latinos and the Politics of Cynicism

While the politicians, pundits, media personalities, and others continue to dissect Wednesday’s Presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, I continue to digest the news announced early this week of the record number Latinos eligible to vote in this year’s election.  As announced by the Pew Hispanic Center, upwards to 24 million Latino voters could go to the polls this November.  The lingering question remains, however, how many actually will vote?  Despite their growing numbers, the Pew report states, “the turnout rate of eligible Latino voters has historically lagged that of whites and blacks by substantial margins.  In 2008, for example, 50% of eligible Latino voters cast ballots, compared with 65% of blacks and 66% of whites.”  As such, getting more Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican-origin voters to the polls could tip the election for one candidate or the other, which is why the presidential candidates continue courting these ever-increasingly important populations.

As widely reported earlier this week, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney made overtures to Latino and Hispanic voters in the run-up to their debate.  The President announced plans for a César Chávez memorial, while the former Massachusetts Governor visited a Chipotle restaurant and declared he would maintain the current administration’s halting of deporting younger undocumented immigrants.  (For the record, I have long admired César Chávez, and had the pleasure of meeting him twice when he visited my alma mater during the late 1980s and early 1990s.  A national monument to his memory is long overdue.)

While having Hispanics and Latinos playing a more prominent role in national politics is undoubtedly a good thing, the ploys both candidates used this week bother me on a couple of levels, and I am not sure what bothers me more.  For one, the candidates seemingly think that cynical moves like these will persuade Hispanic and Latino voters to vote for them.  Moreover, these kinds of cynical moves might actually work.  Politicians would not make such overtures unless there was some evidence that they did.  And if these cynical political moves do ultimately persuade those Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other voting-eligible populations to cast their ballots for one candidate over the other, than can we legitimately ask to be taken seriously as a political constituency?  I fear the answer may be “no.”