The Awakening Giant

El Diario/La Prensa New York
Friday, August 14, 2009

Hispanic voters are the nation’s fastest growing voting population. In a report released yesterday, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) notes that Latino voters increased by 28.4%—from 7.6 million in 2004 to 9.8 million in 2008. The number of Asian and African American voters also dramatically increased during this same period.

The political implications of this record participation level were evident in the 2008 presidential election. For example, in six of the nine states that went from “red” to “blue” in the election, the number of Latino and Asian voters significantly exceeded Barack Obama’s margin of victory over John McCain, according to the IPC.

One of the states that went from red to blue was Florida, where migrations from the northeast and from Puerto Rico and Latin America have driven a rise in Democratic voting. What is also very worth noting is that Latinos are dispersing beyond the eastern and western seaboards. The number of Hispanic voters has dramatically increased in future potential swing states such as Georgia and Tennessee.

These growth trends reflect a broad demographic revolution. They are also a testament to the work of national Latino voter campaigns last year. But there is more to come.

The National Institute for Latino Policy pointed out in an analysis released last month that of the 19.5 million Latinos who were U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old, only 59.4 percent were registered to vote last year and only 49.9 percent actually voted.

We caught an inspiring glimpse of a stirring giant in 2008. But Latino organizations must remain focused on sustaining and increasing Latino voter participation. Then we can finally put the sleeping giant metaphor to bed.