Pollster warns Dems: Bush and Hispanics connecting
usatoday.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Hispanic pollster warned House Democrats at a private strategy session that President Bush is connecting with Hispanics and Democrats need to do more to counter his campaign.
"He's romancing them and appealing to them at a personal level and the Democrats are doing nothing," Miami pollster Sergio Bendixen said Thursday in an interview.
Republicans immediately seized on the comments of the pollster, who has advised Democratic candidates in the past, as evidence their outreach efforts to Hispanics are gaining traction.
"The more Hispanics learn about the Republican Party, the more they realize that they belong," said Sharon Castillo. "Nobody understands Latinos better than this president, because of his whole record in Texas, proximity to Mexico."
She said Bush is addressing issues important to Hispanics such as education and Democrats have taken the Hispanic vote for granted.
Bush got 35% of the Hispanic vote in 2000 after a concentrated effort to reverse earlier strategies. Democrats are determined to keep that GOP percentage from growing in future elections.
Hispanics currently identify with the Democratic Party at levels ranging from 60% to 80% in most states, though Hispanic support was evenly split in 2000 in Florida, with its heavily Republican Cuban-American community.
"Bush is connecting with Hispanics because he grew up around Mexican Americans and feels comfortable with them, very similar to the way (former President) Jimmy Carter felt comfortable with African-American voters," said Bendixen, who has advised Democratic candidates in the past.
He said at the House session Wednesday that Democrats need a spokesman to connect with Hispanics on the issues. And they need to educate Hispanics that Bush is not their friend.
A new Gallup poll showed that six in 10 Hispanics approve of the job Bush is doing. That's the same approval rate that whites gave Bush in the poll. The Hispanic population has grown 58% since 1990, making them an appealing target for the political parties.
Democratic national Chairman Terry McAuliffe was in California Wednesday to help register hundreds of newly naturalized citizens to vote.
"We carried the Hispanic vote 2-to-1 ... they have a problem and we don't," said Democratic strategist Michael Meehan, who said Democrats have positions on the issues that will attract Hispanic voters. "It's clearly a top priority of the Democratic Party to attract a similar level of support that we have in the past." |
