Analysis: Party platform hurts GOP pitch to Hispanics
Posted at: 08/31/2012 6:14 PM
| Updated at: 08/31/2012 6:34 PM
By: Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4
The GOP made its big pitch to attract Hispanic voters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
But will it be enough to do the job?
Our analysts say no.
Nice try, but they won't get what they want, especially in New Mexico where the biggest proportion of Hispanic voters live.
Marco Rubio's passionate speech about his Cuban-American roots Thursday night was the Republicans' bright and shiny invitation to Latino voters, and most people seem to agree that the Florida Senator hit a home run.
But veteran campaign watchers we have turned to for many elections now see a lot of ketchup and not much hamburger.
"Right now the policy stands don't mesh with what Hispanics want and say they want in survey after survey," said UNM Political Science Professor Christine Sierra. "The approach appears hostile."
Politics blogger Joe Monahan agrees.
"There's going to have to be some explanation of these policies from the Republicans that don't appeal to Hispanics, namely immigration, cutting Medicare and Medicaid and abortion."
Sierra argues the GOP could be missing the mark with its immigration pitch to Hispanics.
"For a large part of the Hispanic electorate here in New Mexico immigration is not necessarily a top issue," Sierra said. "It's not like jobs or health care, of course, but it is the politics of culture."
Monahan said the appeal to Hispanics should be simple economics.
"Hispanic unemployment - jobs - that's the number one issue," Monahan said. "It's bad in the Hispanic community. They have suffered more than the Anglo community in terms of losing jobs in this ongoing recession."
For Mitt Romney it means trouble reaching his campaign's stated goal - winning 38 percent of the Hispanic vote.
How serious is Romney about reaching this mark?
Back in April he said that without strong Hispanic support his campaign would be "doomed".
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