Previous posts have dealt with political participation of Hispanic Americans. Adam Nagourney writes at The New York Times:
The nation’s rapidly growing Latino population is one of the most powerful forces working in President Obama’s favor in many of the states that will determine his contest with Mitt Romney. But Latinos are not registering or voting in numbers that fully reflect their potential strength, leaving Hispanic leaders frustrated and Democrats worried as they increase efforts to rally Latino support.Paul Barton writes at Gannett:
Interviews with Latino voters across the country suggested a range of reasons for what has become, over a decade, an entrenched pattern of nonparticipation, ranging from a distrust of government to a fear of what many see as an intimidating effort by law enforcement and political leaders to crack down on immigrants, legal or not.
For Hispanic congressional candidates, this week's California primary brought some stinging disappointments, raising questions about whether the Hispanic community stands "organizationally ready" to solve persistent registration and turnout problems, political analysts say.
In several congressional districts where Hispanics make up at least 40 percent of the population, the Latino candidates finished with percentages that suggest they failed to fully energize that voting block.
"I think one of the big systematic things here is low turnout," said Shaun Bowler, political scientist at the University of California at Riverside. "Low turnout really helps GOP candidates and skews the electorate to older and more Anglo than the underlying population figures. And of course, one of the things about the population figure in relation to the vote is that voters (have to be) over 18 and U.S. citizens."From the Census Bureau:
