Latino Voting Impact in the US

To what extent are Latinos a significant voting group? Latinos are a highly significant group of voters as they have large population in swing states. For example, in Florida 22% of the electorate are Latino. Florida is the largest swing state and thus is crucial in deciding the election, hence the large Latino presence means that they will have significant ability to influence the result of elections through their presence in such significant states.

Another reason why Latinos can be considered a significant voting group is that they are a growing population.

In 2000 12.5% of the population was Latino, this increased to 13.5% by 2010. This is a significant rise in the population and is projected to increase, thus as they are a growing group they will only become more influential in elections; thus, candidates have to campaign on platforms that will appeal to Latinos due to the large influence they can have on elections.

Furthermore, Latinos are known to change their voting allegiances and are not loyal to either party.

In 2008 and 2012 the Latinos tended to vote Democrat, this is due to Obamas policy towards education for immigrants and promotion of minority rights. Though in 2016 election they voted Republican, which was largely account to Trumps strong policies that appealed to Latinos, such as strong policy towards Cuba, the tightening of border controls and pro-life. Thus, as the Latinos voting allegiances are not settled the parties have to appeal to the voters to win them over, which makes them a crucial voting group at election time.

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On the other hand, Latinos have tended not to vote in elections. In 2010, the Latino voting age population was 21 million, yet only 6 million turned out to vote. Hence, Latinos cannot have a large impact on the election if they are not voting in it, also candidates will not aim to appeal to them If they believe that they are unlikely to cast their vote meaning that their importance in limited.