This week, I reached out to several Latino friends who voted for Obama, seeking to ascertain whether GOP ‘rhetoric’ or so-called ‘anti-immigration’ stances had indeed driven them away. Answer? No. Not a single one cited any particular problem with the GOP’s stance or rhetoric. In fact, they weren’t even casting a vote against the GOP (one even shrugged and noted Romney “seemed like a good guy”) – but rather casting a vote for the Democrats. It came down to… surprise, surprise… government benefits...
No, Latinos are not ‘natural conservatives.’ (…) A 2012 Pew poll found that 75% of Hispanics “prefer a big government which provides more services” rather than a small government providing fewer services. (Meanwhile, only 41% of the general American public held this view.) And how did it break down generationally among Latinos? A whopping 81% of Latino immigrants held the pro-big-government stance, with the percentage only dropping to 72% amongst second-generation Latinos.
So much for Reagan’s rosy view.
