Pollster of the book “The Latino Century” says both parties misunderstand Hispanics

Mike Madrid, author of the new book “The Latino Century,” is better placed than most political consultants to speak about the Latino electorate in the United States because of his professional experience and upbringing.

Madrid grew up in a Mexican-American family in Southern California and said he became a Republican at heart at age nine, when Ronald Reagan was first elected president in 1980. A longtime Republican, he has advised high-profile candidates at the state and federal levels.

Madrid has been a critic of former President Donald Trump since he launched his 2016 campaign with an attack on Mexicans. He is also co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.

According to Madrid, both Republicans and Democrats are completely wrong in their assessment of the Latino electorate ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which Hispanics could play a decisive role.

He says jobs and the economy are always the most important issues for Latinos, and that it’s a mistake to assume they’re simply a disgruntled minority focused on immigration, farmworkers and the border. He also points out that many Latinos in the U.S. are not immigrants, and many don’t speak Spanish at all.

But Madrid says Latinos, a fast-growing, optimistic group that currently makes up about 19 percent of the country’s population – more than any other racial or ethnic minority – should play a bigger role in U.S. democracy.

Madrid proposes the idea of ​​a multi-ethnic, pluralist democracy in which the struggle is for something, not against something. He also calls on both parties to consider not only the views of naturalized Latin American immigrants, but also those of their U.S.-born children and grandchildren, who see politics in generational rather than ethnic terms.

The consultant accuses Democratic Party consultants of sometimes wrongly assuming that their party speaks for all Latinos. He also sees a partisan bias in some Democratic polling firms that have missed the rightward shift of Hispanic voters while surveying too many Spanish-speaking and naturalized immigrants. Although most Latinos are still Democrats, the party has steadily lost support among Latinos because of its focus on white, progressive, college-educated voters who are more interested in cultural issues than working-class concerns.

As for Republicans, Madrid says the GOP needs to understand that the rightward shift of Latino voters in the last election had little to do with their efforts. Rather, it reflects the assimilation of a group of people whose families have lived in the U.S. for years, if not generations.

He says the GOP isn’t exactly winning over Latino voters by focusing almost exclusively on white voters without college degrees, or by using racist themes like demonizing Latino immigrants.

If Republicans went beyond white grievances and became more pro-immigration, they could actually gain more support from Latinos and win more national elections, Madrid argues.

In addition, he believes the Republican Party is focusing more on the traditional economic policies that are most important to Latino voters: tax cuts and the elimination of government regulations.

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Anita Snow, Associated Press