With all the talk about how Hispanics will be the majority ethnic group in the U.S. in the near future, and all the studies that have, as a result, examined the political and economic power that they will wield, it's surprising to hear that Republican candidates running for congressional seats don't need a single Latino vote to be victorious in the upcoming midterm elections.
It’s an analysis that The Upshot—the New York Times blog that makes sense of data about politics and policies—released Tuesday.
“Republicans would probably hold the House—and still have a real chance to retake the Senate—if they lost every single Hispanic voter in the country,” The Upshot maintains.
The blog speculates that House Republicans did not prioritize immigration reform in their agenda and explains why they don’t do more to appeal to Hispanic voters.
“The fact that the Republican House majority does not depend on Hispanic voters helps explain why immigration reform has not become law, even though national Republican strategists believe the party needs additional support among Hispanic voters to compete in presidential elections,” the site explains.
While Hispanic voters may not have a large effect on congressional races, they do influence presidential elections.
“It’s true that Republicans would stand little, if any, chance of winning the presidency in 2016 if they lost every Hispanic voter. If anything, the Republicans probably need to make gains among Hispanic voters to compete in states like Florida and Nevada,” the blog indicates.
The Upshot explains that Hispanic voters don’t have that much of an electoral effect on House Republicans because of gerrymandering and where Hispanics tend to live.
Read more at the New York Times.