IF AMERICA had laws making voting compulsory, as Australia and Brazil do, then a new report recording the size of the Hispanic electorate would have Democrats dancing jarabes of joy. The report, based on census numbers crunched by the Pew Research Centre, a non-partisan think-tank, predicts that a record 27.3m Hispanics will be eligible to vote in the elections of 2016. That is good news for the left. Even before Donald Trump decided to build his Republican presidential campaign on a foundation of ugly nativism, accusing Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals to flood America and vowing to build a wall on the southern border, Hispanic voters have strongly favoured Democrats in recent presidential elections. They handed Barack Obama more than 70% of their votes in 2012, in part after the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, vowed to make life so wretched for illegal migrants that they would “self-deport”.
On paper at least, the Pew report offers a second reason for celebration on the left. The Hispanic electorate will not just be larger than ever in 2016, it will be astonishingly young. Almost half of all...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1ZOPg90
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