As we predicted earlier this year, the trend for African American and Latino voter registration doesn’t look good for Obama.
The Washington Post reports:
That figure fell 5 percent across the country, to about 11 million, according to the Census Bureau. But in some politically important swing states, the decline among Hispanics, who are considered critical in the 2012 presidential contest, is much higher: just over 28 percent in New Mexico, for example, and about 10 percent in Florida.
For both Hispanics and blacks, the large decrease is attributed to the ailing economy, which forced many Americans to move in search of work or because of other financial upheaval.
Of course, the only possible reason is the economy, right? The Leftist media has already absolved Obama of any responsibility for the economy, but they can’t even admit that it’s because Latinos are angry at the president for the poor economy – it’s a matter of they’re being too lazy to re-register to vote!
“The only explanation out there is the massive job loss and home mortgage foreclosures which disproportionately affected minorities,” said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, a nonpartisan policy group that focuses on Latinos. “When you move, you lose your registration.”
Thanks, Antonio! But the insults don’t stop there! Let’s see what the democrats have to say about it:
The decline in minority registration “is obviously an area of concern,” said Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a left-leaning think tank.
But he predicted the Obama campaign “will have enough money and enough focus to mitigate the problem. . . . They have five months to get the electorate looking the way they want.”
Well that’s reassuring – I’m so glad the democrats think all they have to do is toss money at us and pat us on the head and they’ll have Latinos back in their pocket! This bears a striking resemblance to the smirking disdain that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina had towards Latinos when liberal columnist Dana Milbanks mocked us.
Meanwhile, over at the Republican camp:
The GOP is also watching the shifting voter registration numbers, tracking active Republican voters in swing states and making sure they are still registered. In some places, the number of voters registered as Republicans is catching up with Democrats.
“We have really closed the gap in key battleground states,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski, pointing to the relative parity Republicans have reached with Democrats in Iowa and Colorado.
Keep in mind that typically Latinos are twice as likely to vote Democrat than Republican – to come close to parity in swing states could significantly affect an election race.
The article continues to note the trend in Latino voting slowing:
Among Latinos, the decline has altered a trend line of steady growth. Given that 12 million Latinos were registered to vote in 2008, some analysts had projected the number would grow to 13 million in 2010 and 14 million this election cycle. Instead, it fell in 2010 to 11 million.
“Everyone is saying the Latino vote is rocketing to the moon,” Gonzalez said. “It has been growing, but it stopped.”
Maybe this is a sign that Latinos are no longer believing the broken promises and unicorn dreams of the Democrat party and are turning towards the party that more fully represents the conservative values the community is known for.
As we noted before, the media pushes the false notion that Latinos only care about immigration, when polling shows that as a community we care more about economics, and even place tax concerns slightly head of immigration.
Add to this that Latinos have been disproportionately hit by the economy in many areas of life, and it’s easy to see why they would be less excited to vote again for Obama as they did in 2008.
Whatever the cause, depressed voter turnout among African Americans and Latinos is not good for Obama, and possibly an inroad for we on the right side of the aisle.