The Almanac of Latino Politics

Immigration is clearly impacting American society economically as well as politically, as millions continue to become naturalized or apply for naturalization. According to the Atlantic, after the re-election of Obama, the Republican party had an internal meeting in which they felt the need to reach out to Latinos and other minorities as a means to push back on Democratic control of government. Although this meeting did not produce any meaningful results, there remains a need for both parties to invest in the Latino population or risk losing out because of shifting demographics. Many estimate Non-Hispanic Whites will become a minority (under 50%) by 2042 and Hispanics will reach or exceed 25% of the population (see Table 1.10 in Latino Demographics Section).

Today, the impact of Latino population growth is felt politically by the addition of 3.6 million Latinos reaching voting age from the 2016-2020 presidential election. This gain is due in part to a young population that averages one new Latino of voting age every 30 seconds, or an average of 800,000 a year according to the Pew Research Center. This bodes well for the future of the Latino electorate who will continue to grow in numbers and could be aided further by an implementation of pathways to citizenship, as naturalized citizens tend to vote at higher rates than natural born citizens (see Tables 7.4-7.6). Although Democrats would, at the moment, stand to gain the most from immigration reform, Republicans can benefit greatly from this as well if their message is one of welcoming immigrants and appeal to a very diverse electorate that may find certain conservative issues appealing. Immigration will continue to impact the Latino community into the future where it will increasingly hold more political power.