Hispanics, of course, are more numerous than ever before in the country, but beyond that, some key large states -- California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Florida -- have large numbers of electoral votes, so the Latino vote has become increasingly important with each passing election. And the trend of Latino importance for federal, national, state elections will only continue to grow as time passes in this country.Latinos have traditionally been far more Democratic than Republican, although there are some changes that have been afoot for quite some time now. There are regional and ethnic differences. Cubans tend to vote more Republican than Democratic, largely because one of their major issues is what's going on in their homeland and how U.S. policy affects things in Cuba. Others in Texas have been wooed by George Bush's gubernatorial campaigns -- not in large numbers, but there are those who support his stances on morality issues. That brings them more in line with what the Republican Party holds, and of course many Latinos are very concerned about the immigration issue and will tend to judge the candidate based on their perception of how that candidate will react with regard to immigration.
Like any other group, with upward mobility some Latinos start to vote more with the Republican Party and to align themselves more with its policies and perceptions. Latinos I think are falsely sometimes seen as only a newly arrived group of poor immigrants. This is simply not the case. Some have been here for many generations; a growing number are going to college; a growing number are rising to the middle class and above. This is not the vast majority, but a number that's larger than is commonly thought, and with this upward mobility, there is more and more voting in the Republican Party.
The Hispanic vote is not a single unified bloc. It tends to still be very strongly in the Democratic Party, but because of Cubans who vote along their national interests on the island, because of upward mobility, because of some residents with Republican stands on moral issues, there are a number of reasons why Republicans are gaining a somewhat more important percentage of the Latino vote.
It's become almost necessary now for any national candidate to have some part of their stump speech that they can give in the Spanish language and a certain speech or appeal they can make to Hispanic voters. We're well past the day when candidates are no longer noticing the Latino vote. They're very much on the radar screen of anyone who has aspirations for national office.
One of the most important national trends in efforts for social reform is faith-based community organizing. It's estimated that approximately 2 million Americans today are involved in faith-based community organizing groups. By this I mean churches [and] organizations of churches that don't tell their people how to vote, that aren't partisan in their politics, that don't support a particular candidate or party, but that help raise the issues that are important to people in their local areas. Hispanics participate at a very large rate in these faith-based community organizations. What these organizations often do at election time is invite candidates to come and respond to issues that are vitally important to these organizations. Then they invite their members to vote their own conscience, but to be aware of how the candidates responded to their queries about specific issues. These candidate nights have become very important in shaping the political consciousness of Latinos and other members of these faith-based community organizations.
Another important element of faith-based community organizations is voter registration. They've registered literally millions of voters. They've encouraged people, sometimes immigrants who have not yet become citizens or who were citizens who were not yet registered, to become active in the political process. They teach them that this is an important part of being an American, and it's important for their future and the future of their children. The encouragement of civic participation is another great way of promoting and fostering the vote that faith-based community organizations have engaged in.
The Catholic Bishops' pastoral letter or statement, "Faithful Citizenship," is widely known by pastors and team leaders, and I think in preaching, in the teachings and the classes offered by community organizers, this statement is being filtered down to grassroots voters on a number of levels, including among Latinos, and I think it will very much be one more encouragement for them to get involved and participate in the political process.
Latinos, particularly immigrants who come to this country, often find they're in a world that's very unfamiliar to them. The Church therefore has a tremendous degree of credibility. They look to the Church for advice on how to live in a new and different environment. So when the Church encourages civic participation by voter registration, by becoming concerned and knowledgeable about the issues, by voting responsibly, this carries tremendous weight with Hispanics -- to get them to see that this is part of what it means to be a citizen and a resident of the United States of America.
