Juan Williams (D) pundit: “I think the winners of the Republican National Convention were Latinos… specifically Latina’s who were represented and highlighted at the convention; women like First Lady of Puerto Rico Lucé Fortuna and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez”
The Hispanic Community was well represented at the GOP National Convention and welcomed. In addition to the First Lady of Puerto Rico Lucé Vela Fortuño and New Mexico Republican Governor Susana Martinez there were speeches by tea party favorite Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz, small business owner and candidate for DE Lt. Governor Sher Valenzuela, Governor Luis Fortuño, Texas Rep. Francisco Canseco as well as the coveted speech slot to introduce the party’s presidential candidate was delivered by Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
The First Lady of Puerto Rico Lucé Vela Fortuño along with the first female Governor (and first) of Indian decent of South Carolina introduced Ann Romney before her speech.
"I am the proud mother of 20-year-old triplets, a practicing attorney, a proud Latina, and a die-hard Republican!" Lucé Fortuño said in accented English as she gave her introductory speech of Ann Romney. Democrats have accused Republicans of waging a ‘war on women’ that disproportionately affects Latinas…” obviously not true.
Republican Luz Weinberg, Vice President of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, or NALEO, said these speeches and the convention were a good start to attract Latinos.
And if there is one thing that the Republican National Convention proved it is that there is ‘no’ conservative, Republican or Romney war on women, no war on blacks, no on Latinos and no war on anyone else. They have a pretty wide tent.
Video: New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez addresses the 2012 Republican National Convention
Some of the highlights of Susana’s speech was when she talked about how she carried, and can shoot a .357 magnum, when she worked as a security guard for her parent’s business… the business that “they built” with hard work. And then she about going to lunch with her husband and some Republicans, where they talked issues not parties, before deciding to run for office… After the meeting she said, “We got in the car and I looked over at Chuck and I said, "I'll be damned. We are Republicans.”
The truth is that Latino/Hispanic values are Republican values and one of the only reasons so many Hispanics/Latinos vote Democrat is the immigration issue. But this is not a one issue election. Hispanics are concerned about jobs and the economy, about traditional marriage and pro-life issues because they are primarily Catholics. And they want America to remain a country of promise for their children and grandchildren.
What they need to understand that the bill of goods being sold them by the Democrats is not true and many are beginning to understand that. Let everyone also remember that just because it is written in the platform of either party, it doesn’t mean much nor mean that the candidate agrees or will act on it.
Rosario Marin, who served as U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush, said Republicans “hit it out of the ballpark” and that the message to all women was "genuine", and that the biggest issue for everyone is jobs and the economy.
But don’t count on facts getting in the way at the DNC message this coming week in Charlotte…
Surrogate for Obama, Hispanic Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, has already said, “Republicans can't just trot out brown faces or people with a Spanish surname and expect them to vote for them or make inroads with the Latino community” Really? I wonder if Lucé Fortuño, Susana Martinez, Ted Cruz, Sher Valenzuela, Governor Luis Fortuño , Francisco Cansecoor, and Senator Marco Rubio know that they are just brown faces being used by the GOP?
And I am sure the Hispanic/Latino community is much smarter than the Democrats think they are, but it is going to be an ugly week and an even uglier campaign by the left!! They have nothing else to run on… but fear, smear and false promises. Their record is abysmal.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush also spoke at the RNC, including a few words in Spanish; he is very popular both in Florida and with the Latino community… the Cuban community in that state. Romney’s youngest son, Craig, also speaks fluent Spanish and did so at the Convention. And let us not forget that the Romney grandparents and great grandparents lived in Mexico and the Romneys still have relatives there.
Three of the six people highlighted in a piece, Rising Stars of the GOP, written before the Republican convention were Hispanics: Ted Cruz, Susana Martinez and Marco Rubio. I’m sure if they were writing it today they would have added Mia Love, Mayor of Sarasota Springs, Utah and U.S. Congressional candidate who rocked the house, to that list.
And one of the highlight speeches of the Republican National Convention was given by party (and tea party) favorite Senator Marco Rubio’s:
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney now appears to have gained some traction among Latino voters according to this week's impreMedia-Latino Decisions tracking poll
Even though Barack Obama maintains a commanding lead with 64% support among Latino registered voters, Mitt Romney's grew to 30%, his highest level yet.
When asked about the prominent roles that Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Susana Martinez played at the Republican National Convention, 39% of Latino voters who consider themselves independent stated it made a positive impression on them.
"This was the first bit of good news for the Republican candidate and his party", observed Latino Decisions pollster, Gary Segura. "This poll shows that Latinos are paying attention, but this is not a slam dunk. The fact that Romney still trails with only 30% of the vote should be somewhat disappointing." Jobs and the economy continue to be the most important issue for Latinos. But despite Romney's consistent efforts to negatively cast the President's handling of the economy, Latinos continue to trust Obama and the Democratic Party to improve economic conditions more so than the Republicans by 59% to 30%.
The weekly tracking poll is part of impreMedia's commitment to provide unique insights and superior coverage of the upcoming 2012 presidential elections. "We understand how critical the Latino vote will be in determining the outcome of this election and we will be reporting on the important issues, preferences and concerns of this growing constituent," stated Monica Lozano CEO of impreMedia.
To view more data and information on this week's poll visit: www.eldiariony.com/section/voto METHODOLOGY This is the second release, of an 11-week tracking poll of Latino registered voters. Each week, impreMedia and Latino Decisions will release a new rolling cross-section of 300 completed interviews with Latino registered voters across all 50 states. Interviews are conducted in English or Spanish, at the preference of the respondent, all conducted by bilingual interviewers at Latino Decisions calling center, Pacific Market Research. The survey averaged 10 minutes in length, and has an overall margin of error of 5.6% on results that approach a 50/50 distribution. All respondents confirm that they are Hispanic or Latino and currently registered to vote.
This first wave survey was in the field August 24-30, 2012 About impreMedia. impreMedia is the leading Hispanic news and information company in the U.S. in online and print. impreMedia's multi-platform offerings range from online to video, social media, mobile, audio, newspapers and magazines, including the http://www.impre.com portal. 25.5%of U.S.
Hispanic adults use an impreMedianetwork product. The networkis also the nation's largest Hispanic newspaper publisher with newspapers in top U.S. Hispanic markets, reaching 15markets total that represent 59% of the U.S. Hispanic population. Its leading publications include La Opinión in Los Angeles and El Diario La Prensa in New York.
ImpreMedia portals and publication websites are: www.impre.com, www.laopinion.com, www.eldiariony.com, www.hoynyc.com, www.laraza.com, www.laprensafl.com, www.elmensajero.com, www.rumbotx.com, www.vistamagazine.com, www.contigola.com, and www.lavibra.com.
About Latino Decisions Latino Decisions is a joint effort between Pacific Market Research, a nationally known research firm, and Dr. Gary Segura and Dr. Matt Barreto, leading Latino politics scholars and professors at Stanford University and the University of Washington. Both Dr. Segura and Dr.
Barreto are experienced and nationally respected researchers who have a deep understanding of U.S. Latino culture and advanced quantitative research skills. Their expertise, coupled with Pacific Market Research's logistical capabilities, makes Latino Decisions a leader in the field. For more information, visit: http://www.impremedia.com.
Tracking Poll Wave 2: Romney gains among Latinos post-convention
By Matt Barreto, Latino Decisions on 09/03/2012
After a week in the spotlight in which many prominent Latinos took to the stage at the RNC Convention, the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll finds a noticeable bump in support for Romney and Republicans among Latinos, as reported by Pilar Marrero. The question will be can they sustain it, or will the new found support erode after the Democrats get their turn in Charlotte. In the second week of the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll Romney stands at 30%, up from 26% in week 1, and also improved his favorability from 27/55 (net -28) to 31/54 (net-23). While the clear majority of Latino voters continue to support Obama, this is the first time Romney has managed to climb to 30% of the Latino vote in the 10 months that impreMedia/Latino Decisions has polled on an Obama-Romney match-up. [Jump to full results]
In addition to Romney, the Republicans may have made some small in-roads with their presentation of Latino elected officials such as Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval and Marco Rubio. The tracking poll asked, “During the Republican National Convention Latino elected officials such as Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Susana Martinez were given prominent speaking roles. Does this give you a more favorable or less favorable impression of the Republican Party, or does it have no effect on how you feel about the Republican Party?” Overall, 21% said they had a more favorable impression, 7% said less favorable and 62% said it had no effect. Although a large majority said the Latino RNC speakers had no effect on their view of Republicans, among those who did take this into account, we found a 3-1 advantage for Republicans in favorability.
Glass one-third full / Glass two-thirds empty?
While Romney made some gains following the RNC convention, the gains are relatively small. After their best week of coverage in which Romney and the RNC got to dictate the message, and President Obama struggled for coverage, Romney still maintains a net negative favorability rating of -23 while the President enjoys a net positive favorability rating of +43. And while Romney is inching towards one-third of the Latino vote, the data still suggest that close to two-thirds of Latinos (64%) plan to vote against Romney.
In looking at the question about perceptions of party outreach to Hispanics, the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll reveals almost no movement in the larger images of either party. One week ago 14% thought the Republican party was doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics, and today that number is 17%. Combined, 72% of Latinos think the Republican party either ‘doesn’t care’ or is ‘being hostile’ towards Hispanics, and that number that will take more than a 3-day convention to move. As Governor Jeb Bush acknowledge during the RNC, Republicans need to stop “acting stupid” and “to have a tone that is open and hospitable,” if they want to win over Latino voters.
The Republicans believe their path to the Latino vote is through the troubled economy, a message they reiterated during the RNC convention. However Latino voters may not share their views of who is to blame, and who can fix things. Last week, the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll asked who was to blame for the current state of the economy and 68% of Latinos said the policies of the Bush administration, compared to 14% who blamed Obama. This week we asked, “thinking about the future of our economy, which party do you trust more to make the right decisions and improve our economic conditions?” Here, 59% of Latinos said they trust Obama and the Democrats compared to 30% who said Romney and the Republicans. In courting Latinos, the Republicans need to do more than point the finger at Obama, they need to provide a clear policy alternative that does not sound like “Bush tax cuts” that would seem to benefit the Latino community. To this point, Latinos continue to give the Democrats a 2-1 advantage on fixing the economy. Back in February 2011 the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll asked what strategy was best for turning around the economy, and 57% said the federal government should invest in projects while 27% said we should lower taxes, a number quite consistent with the 59-30 advantage reported today, 19 month later on which party is best to fix the economy.
