Latino voters were always going to be a big part of the US election this year. How could they not be? Donald Trump carved out a significant nativist base early on in the primaries based on his condemnation of Hispanic immigrant as being lazy criminals and rapists.
But it looks like they’re an even bigger factor than anticipated. Voting is not compulsory in the United States, so a huge part of winning an election is not merely convincing voters to vote for you, but to vote at all. Seems Latino voter didn’t need much convincing this cycle.
According to The New York Times, early voter turnout in Florida – a key battleground state – show around one million of the 6.2 million early voters were cast by members of the Hispanic community. That’s a whopping 75 percent increase from last election.
According to Politico, the Trump campaign is “rattled” over the robust early support from Latino voters in such states as Arizona and Nevada – both of which have high Hispanic populations.
Historically, voter turnout by Hispanic voters has been lower than than the national average – around 48 percent of them hit the voting booths in 2012, as compared to 62 percent of white voters and 66 percent of black voters.
T-minus one day to the election. I have no idea what there will be left to talk about.
Source: Politico.
Photo: Getty Images.
