The Hispanic Voter - Conservative or Liberal?

“It’s complicated,” says Geoffrey Gordan who, along with his wife Elizabeth, returns to the show to discuss contemporary politics from the point of view of residents of hotbed states like Arizona. The question of the day is what compels Latinos to vote for either Republicans or Democrats. Right away, as he explains, there is the difference between Hispanic and Latino. Elizabeth points out the difference between Latinos who have lived in America for generations and those who have recently arrived–a distinction made by many Latinos themselves.

What many Latinos do share is a strong Christian faith, and therefore find many of the issues supported by the Democratic Party, particularly abortion and gay rights, are difficult to reconcile.

What is ironic, as Geoffrey points out, is that newly arrived Latinos are joining the Evangelical sect of Christianity in droves. This is the same faith shared by many anti-immigration Republicans.

Quotes

• “Many Hispanics have a very strong faith based family structure, and they have for years, whether they started out as Catholics. And a lot of the things center around family, faith and country. And that, to their core, is who they are.” (11:46-12:15 | Geoffrey)
• “I do think there's another factor in the Hispanic conversation. And I think it's the classic wet foot dry foot immigrant view, where the immigrants who came, quote unquote, the right way, or in the case of Hispanics, those Hispanics who have been here for generations and generations, do look down on other newer immigrants.” (16:41-17:10 | Elizabeth)
• “In a segment of the Hispanic population, they do not have that foundational grounding in the civil rights movement, because they've been accepted into white society. They are the Hispanic white population. And so for them, civil rights, that ability for people to live their lives is not as ingrained. They have not been on the receiving end of anti Hispanic racism, because they pass. Unless their name is Garcia, which, some of them it is, but even then, if you're Garcia, but you speak perfect English and you look white, Okay, no problem.” (22:22-23:12 | Elizabeth)
• “The irony is the base of the of the Republican Party, which is Evangelical, has so much animosity against immigration, and illegal immigration. But it's literally the people that are coming here, especially over the last 20 years, that are growing the church.” (28:31-28:52 | Geoffrey)

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