In a hollow effort to distract Latino voters from their Party’s poor record on immigration reform in recent years, the Republican National Committee (RNC) picked fights with Democrats this week over “chimichangas” and perceived insults. First targeting Jim Messina and now going after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the RNC’s approach is backfiring, because it’s only serving to highlight the reasons why a growing number of Latino voters are turning away from the GOP.
“It is beyond ironic that the RNC is calling out Democrats like Harry Reid for being ‘insensitive’ to Latinos,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director at America’s Voice. “While Reid stood up for the DREAM Act, it was Republicans that stopped the bill dead in its path, destroying the hopes and dreams of millions of Latino youth. Now, that’s what I call ‘insensitive.’”
Polling released last month by Latino Decisions for ABC News and Univision shows one reason why Republicans are doing so poorly among Latino voters. Among other relevant findings, the poll found that nationwide, 85% of Latino voters support the DREAM Act. Fifty-four percent of Latino voters “say opposition to the DREAM Act would make them less likely to support a candidate,” while 68% say that a candidate’s support for passing the DREAM Act would make them more likely to support him or her.
The RNC needs to realize that Latinos know the score on immigration. Rather than engaging in petty partisan politics, Republicans should take a good hard look in the mirror and start changing the way they approach immigration reform.
The folks at NewsTaco today also saw through this distracting red herring, and were furious that politicos were losing their collective heads over trivial things:
“Latino unemployment is stalled at about 11%; Latino education is dismal; yet Latinos are poised to carry the U.S. economy on their shoulders and hold a big chunk of the vote in key swing states. And we’re talking about tacos and chimichangas? If anything, that’s what irritates me. There are real issues to contend with, and the conversation reaches it’s highest pitch when the subject is food? Even the undercurrent is a farce.”