LULAC Reaches Out to New Hampshire Latinos Ahead of Primary
Latinos remain a small minority in New Hampshire making up about 5.7 percent of the population up from 3.7 percent in 1990.
The fastest-growing demographic in the country continually participates in general elections at lower rates than other ethnic groups, mainly because campaigns historically haven't spent much time courting them. Come Election Day, Hispanic voters are expected to make up about four percent of New Hampshire's electorate. The goal advocacy groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens have is to educate Latinos about the blossoming impact they have.
"Most of the time, Latino organizations are focused on general elections rather than the primary states and caucuses," said Brent Wilkes, LULAC national executive director. "We realized that the problem with doing that is that you have folks like Donald Trump in the primaries that get very negative with the issues that impact a community, even if they never make it into office."
LULAC of Iowa played a pivotal role in attracting a record 10,000 Latinos to participate in last week's caucuses. The organization reached nearly 50,000 people through phone calls, mailers, caucus trainings, among other methods.
A similar outcome isn't expected in New Hampshire, where approximately 23,000 Latinos are eligible to vote. LULAC didn't carry out a state-wide effort as they did in Iowa, instead focusing on large populations in cities of Concord, Manchester and areas near the Massachusetts border.
This is LULAC's first endeavor into the Granite State. Their focus isn't in matching the Iowa total. It's in reaching out to as many Latinos as they can ahead of Tuesdays' first-in-the-nation primaries.
"It doesn't matter how small your population is, it's important to come out and express your viewpoint. We don't care who you vote for, it's really important that you engage in the election by having Latinos participate," Wilkes said.
Wilkes said candidates will start gravitating towards Latino voters because "nobody wants to alienate a voter and a lot of candidates are going to change their position if it helps them reach out to more people within the state."
A CNN/WMUR poll released Monday found Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic grassroots candidate Bernie Sanders carry overwhelming leads heading into the New Hampshire primaries.
Wilkes said LULAC never endorses a candidate, but derogatory comments Trump made about Mexicans last summer -- calling them rapists and murderers -- prompted the organization to denounce his rhetoric and warn against supporting him in Iowa.
"In this case, we felt it was important to come out in opposition to him because of the fact that he was really using the Latino community as a punching bag in order to get votes in what he thought would be a very white primary," Wilkes said. "We were able to push back on his rhetoric and at the same time turn out more Latinos that he was counting on."
Unlike Iowa, where caucus-goers either divide into groups or hear stump speeches before casting a ballot, New Hampshire voters will do little more than cast a ballot. Those who registered but don't have a party affiliation don't have the pressure of choosing a side beforehand, they can vote Republican or Democrat upon reaching their polling place.
Getting New Hampshire Latinos to participate in the primaries could be as simple as explaining the difference.
"Every vote in Iowa and New Hampshire is magnified by the fact that those two states have such a huge influence on who will eventually become president of the United States. It's important to turn out not just for yourself and your family, but for the entire community across the country," Wilkes said.
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