Hillary Clinton 2016 Campaign: Latino Vote Up For Grabs Despite Hillary Clinton's Name Recognition
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed her bid for the White House on Sunday, and her campaign is making the moves to court the Latino electorate.
Clinton announced she will run for U.S. president on Twitter with a video message. The tweet was posted in both English and Spanish.
Estoy postulándome para presidente. Todos los estadounidenses necesitan un defensor. Yo quiero ser ese defensor. –H https://t.co/MnnmLkYqLd
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 12, 2015
Clinton's campaign website also offers its separate Spanish-language content where visitors can read her bio, volunteer and donate. More needs to be done for Clinton to win the Latino electorate. While most Latinos lean Democrat, Clinton risks alienating the voting bloc on immigration.
The polling firm Latino Decisions previously asked Latino respondents about Clinton and found a shift if she fails to renew President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions.
If Clinton continues Obama's executive actions, Latinos, with 85 percent, were likely to support Clinton for president in 2016, while 11 percent were unlikely to support her. If she decides not to renew the executive actions, her support from Latino drops by 48 percentage points. If Clinton does not renew the executive actions, 37 percent of Latinos maintained support for the former U.S. senator for New York, and 55 percent were unlikely to support her.
"Hillary Clinton and other Presidential candidates for 2016 can either support stopping deportations through executive action or they can lose the Latino vote," said Presente.org Executive Director Arturo Carmona following the release of the Latino Decisions poll. "Should Congress fail to resolve the deportation crisis, 73 percent of Latinos favor additional executive orders to finish the job for the additional 7 million immigrants that were left out: and they will base their votes on which candidates will finish the job."
Mi Familia Vota Executive Director Ben Monterroso said, "The poll results give very clear direction to any presidential candidate in 2016. It does not matter what party you belong to, or even how friendly you have been with the Latino community in past years. It's not even enough to say that you support the president's use of executive authority. If you want the Latino vote in 2016 - and you should, if you want to win the White House - you have to commit to continuing the president's temporary program until Congress passes a long-term solution that is acceptable to Latino voters."
During an interview for Latin Post's "Turnout," Voto Latino President and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar said Clinton has demonstrated strength and has the name recognition to run for the White House. She also acknowledged Latinas have shown strong favorability toward the former secretary of state, who has been viewed as a fighter and mother. As a result, Clinton could attract more Latinas to the ballot box than Latino males.
In Florida, home to the third-largest U.S. Latino population, Clinton needs to improve her electability against the Sunshine State's former Gov. Jeb Bush and current Sen. Marco Rubio. According to Quinnipiac University's polling figures, Clinton lost a hypothetical race against Bush with 45 percent to 42 percent. Clinton narrowly won against Rubio, with 46 percent and 44 percent, respectively. Her favorability also declined from Quinnipiac's previous Florida poll, from 53 percent to 49 percent, while her unfavorability rating increased from 39 percent to 46 percent.
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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
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