Ben Carson's Latino Outreach Fails to Attract Latinos
Retired neurosurgeon and GOP White House hopeful Ben Carson this week tried to woo Latinos -- widely considered a key demographic in the 2016 presidential election. But he failed to draw a single Latino individual at an "outreach event."
Carson was speaking at a South Carolina landscaping business, and the company's owner and his brother were the only two Latinos in attendance. All things told, the crowd at the campaign event amounted to a mere 25 people, the magazine noted.
Nevertheless, the presidential candidate told supporters in Seneca, South Carolina, that he has better chances of capturing the Latino vote than many of his GOP challengers, notably frontrunner Donald Trump, who offended many in the community by claiming that Mexico brought criminals and rapist to the United States.
Carson noted that he was the only Republican contender to attend a the National Association of Elected and Appointed Latino Officials in Las Vegas, at which he spoke in June. "I talked about the same kinds of issues, and they appreciated it. And many of them came up to me afterwards and said, 'I'm voting for you,'" he added, according to the Greenville (South Carolina) News.
Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, however, told the newspaper that he was not surprised that Carson did not draw a larger crowd at his outreach event.
"Listen to the rhetoric that is coming out of the Republican Party as it relates to the Hispanic population and Hispanic immigrants to this country," Harrison charged. "These guys are now even talking about repealing the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution," which guarantees birthright citizenship and equal protection under the the law.
But Carson's style is markedly different from Trump's, the liberal Daily Beast pointed out as it characterized the 63-year-old as a "soft-spoken, overtly religious man." His chances of capturing the Republican nomination may be better than many expect, the magazine added.
"As Trump has pulled away from the rest of the GOP field nationally, with his hurricane of rants, tirades, and insults, conservatives have noticed the quiet but steady ascent of Carson," the Daily Beast commented.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com