The November elections were just a few weeks ago so I was surprised to hear that various anti-immigrant extremist organizations have been trying to re-write history and claim that the voters were actually sending an anti-immigrant message. Huh?!! People paying attention know that this is a bunch of malarkey, but it's important that this type of nonsense does not go unchallenged. I was glad to see one organization make a big deal out of debunking these claims lest the antis succeed in re-drafting reality.
America's Voice is making sure that media organizations have the facts before they take the antis propaganda at face value.
'Bush's strong showing among Latinos, winning between 40 and 44%'
Strong showing? If less than 50% is your high water mark, perhaps it's not the political 'no brainer' Sharry claims it is to add tens of millions more of voters you don't have a majority of. It's like claiming the way to get rich is through tax loss harvesting. You're still losing money.
The problem with Republican ethnic pandering to Latino voters is they'll never be able to outpander the Democrats enough to make up for the 5 or so issues which tilt Democratic that Latinos generally care as much or more about than immigration. They are in trouble anyway but amnesty/CIR arguably just speeds up their demise, not stanches it. Sharry is a one issue lobbyist so of course he tries to frame Latinos as one issue--his issue--voters.
Posted by: Jack | January 31, 2009 at 09:53 PM
Try this...
http://www.immigration08.com/page/-/powerofthevote.pdf
In 2004 Latinos voted for Kerry by about 55% margin. In 2008, I believe it was 70% for Obama or was it 80%...the difference was the Latino protestants who finally decided that the white evangelicals were not really Christians at all wanting to unite Christians worldwide but were more concerned about their daughters marrying a non-white if the country let in too many Hispanics, evangelical or otherwise..in other words, for many white evangelicals down south, white skin worship was more important than worshipping Christ and white skin trumped Christianity...finally the Hispanic evangelicals wised up.
Posted by: George Chell | January 31, 2009 at 01:04 PM
I searched for about 20 minutes and found no poll that sounded convincing.
What I want is very simple. The poll should ask what party the person voted for and ask for most important issues that affected the vote. This is what CNN exit polls do, but I could not find separate data on Latino voters.
No offense meant but I think without the data all this talk on "what Latinos voted for" is cheap.
Posted by: hmm | January 31, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Go into google type in latinos elections immigration 2006 and 2008...you will get a bunch of surveys including those done by Pew, Gallup and others!
Posted by: George Chell | January 30, 2009 at 12:00 PM
@hmm:
There are more links on the site Greg linked to. I just picked one.
Please, I don't think you need to be fed piecemeal...
Posted by: JoeF | January 30, 2009 at 10:35 AM
JoeF, thanks for the link but looks like the survey does not tell the whole story because:
1) it focuses on Latino Protestants, a minority among Latinos.
2) the survey does not compare immigration to other key issues like economy or Iraq war. My guess is that economy trampleS immigration among Latinos.
3) for Latino Protestants the abortion issue is even more important than immigration. I am guessing they are pro-life, unlike Obama, and the survey does not analyzes this in the same way as immigration.
Posted by: hmm | January 29, 2009 at 08:36 PM
@hmm: The article linked to provides links to studies and surveys, e.g., http://www.immigration08.com/2008/poll/national_survey_of_latino_protestants_immigration_and_the_2008_election
Posted by: JoeF | January 29, 2009 at 04:52 PM
I followed the link to learn "the facts". Where are they? I was expecting credible polls on how immigration affected people's votes in the 2008 elections. I thought CNN made extensive exit polls on issues and was looking for a summary. All I found was speculations on what must have happened but no hard data. Did I miss a link?
Posted by: hmm | January 29, 2009 at 04:21 PM
And one more thing I will repeat..unless we get foreigners to buy up our surplus houses through the expansion of the investor visa programs, the housing crisis will be with us for at least another five years.
Posted by: George Chell | January 29, 2009 at 11:10 AM
What do you expect from a racist group such as CIS and racists such as Mark Kirkorian, Steve Camarotta and Jessica Vaughan. These are folks who say that we should train Americans first and admit fewer foreign students. But, where were they when several deserving American students could not go to a four year college this year as a result of the credit crisis and problems at Fannie and Sallie Mae..a problem which has forced many American universities to admit even more foreign students so that they dont have to go to the federal government for a bailout? Why is CIS not protesting massive cuts in edncation particularly in states such as California? And finally, CIS protests H1-Bs if they are Indian and Chinese computer programmers but these racists have little or nothing to say about white actors from other countries displacing aspiring American actors, white or otherwise.. All these make me conclude that these chaps are liars and racists who are not concerned about the country but only in keeping America white majority. At least Lou Dobss protests outsourcing..I have never heard clowns at CIS talk about jobs moved abroad. Racists through and through!
Posted by: George Chell | January 29, 2009 at 11:06 AM