Immigration and the Latino Vote
Mitt Romney’s new campaign ad, entitled “Not Politically Correct,” paints Romney as a conservative with a record of sticking to his values:
The ad highlights Romney’s opposition to abortion, gay marriage, and bilingual education: “When it wasn’t politically correct, he fought for English in the classroom,” the ad says.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has taken a different approach to immigration throughout the campaign, and suffered in the polls during the late spring and summer over his support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. McCain says he has learned a lesson from voters outraged by a porous U.S.-Mexican border. Still, he chides fellow Republican candidates, including Romney, for a “level of dialogue” on the issue that “is not helpful,” he told CFR.org in a new interview. “I hope we could address this issue in terms of national security but also in a humane and compassionate fashion,” he said. This attitude on immigration may not play well among the Republican voters targeted by Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. But along with candidate Mike Huckabee, it sets him apart from the pack of Republican candidates, who, as staunch anti-illegal immigration candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) said in a recent debate, seem to be “trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo.”
Rhetoric on immigration may be driving away Hispanic-Americans from the Republican Party. A new Pew Hispanic Center report (PDF) says a majority of Latino voters are returning to the Democratic Party. “After spending the first part of this decade loosening their historic ties to the Democratic Party, Hispanic voters have reversed course in the past year,” the study says.
