Out of Desperation,
Romney Spins Puerto Rico Win as Proof that Latinos Will Support Him
Win
in
Puerto Rico GOP Primary of Limited Predictive Value for this November
Washington,
D.C.- Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney used his
resounding win in Puerto Rico’s Republican primary this weekend as
evidence that he can actually compete for Latino voters this
November.
Unfortunately for Romney, his Puerto Rican primary win is of limited
predictive value for potential general election performance among
Latinos, for whom Romney’s “self deportation” immigration stance will
remain
a defining issue.
Said Romney after
winning the primary, “Those people who don’t think that Latinos will
vote for a Republican need to take a look in Puerto Rico…Hispanic
voters are going to vote for Republicans if we stand for something:
conservative principles that bring growth and good jobs and rising home
values…I intend to become our nominee and I intend to get Latino voters
to vote for a Republican.”
According
to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “Mitt Romney is
living in an alternate reality. While it’s great that he finally
recognizes the importance of Latino voters, it’s a leap in logic to
think that his Puerto Rico primary win means that all the recent polls
and analysts are wrong, and he will do well with this constituency in
November. Without a major change of course in his immigration
policy
and rhetoric, Romney will remain out of touch and out of step with the
vast majority of Latino voters throughout the nation.”
Undoubtedly aided by Rick Santorum’s decision to tell Puerto Rican voters that they should
speak English if they want statehood, Romneywon 83% of Republican voters in a territory
where most citizens identify as Latino. What he fails to mention
is that this is 83% of just112,000 votes cast.
Not to mention, 83% of an electorate comprised entirely of
Republican
primary voters – not nearly a representative sample of Latino voters
this November. Contrast that to the 2 million voters who
participated in the 2008 general election in Puerto Rico—and the fact
that immigration will be a defining issue for Latino voters in the 2012
general election—and Romney’s argument looks embarrassingly desperate.
Recent polling of Latino voters nationwide shows that, despite Romney’s
claims, he remains at risk to receive historically low levels of support for
a
major
party nominee among Latino voters. For example, a recent
Fox
News Latino/Latin Insights poll of 1,200 likely Latino voters
found, in the words of the accompanying poll recap from
Fox
News
Latino, “that the overwhelming choice among likely Latino
voters is President Obama. In head-to-head match-ups none of the
GOP
candidates would garner more than 14 percent of the Latino vote come
November.” The same poll also demonstrated that
immigration remains a defining, threshold issue for Latino voters,
helping to shape their voting choices and views of candidates.
America's Voice -- Harnessing the power of American voices and American
values to win common sense immigration reform.
www.americasvoiceonline.org
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