It suddenly dawns on Democrats that ethnic pandering is bombing with Latino voters

Democrats have been losing Latino voters in droves to President Trump and many Republicans, to the consternation of many leftist leaders, all of whom view Latino voters as ‘their’ voters, as loyal as black voters to Democrats; “their” property. They always have.

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So, one of them decided to hire a leftwing consultant to try to sort it out for them: Turns out ethnic pandering — the politics of building ethnic blocs and representational box checking, and diversity based on skin tone — doesn’t impress them much.

According to the New York Times:

Way to Win, a Democratic-aligned group that focuses on the Sun Belt, including Latino voters, has a new report out today that offers some possible answers for the party.

One conclusion: “The fastest way to lose these communities is to treat their ethnicity as the most interesting thing about them,” the report says.

It’s worth lingering on that statement. Some Democrats have long treated Latino voters as a kind of monolithic group. They’ve focused on Spanish-language advertising, brought mariachi bands to campaign rallies, and sprinkled Spanish into their speeches — all in an effort to attract a growing demographic that is essential to a winning national coalition.

This report suggests that the reality is much more complicated.

Turns out Latinos are voting Republican because they are more like Republicans.

They don’t want everything to be about race, se habla español, historic firsts, or free tacos for the rally, for example, as I saw in one anti-Karen Bass ad mocking it.

In fact, they distrust government to a striking extent because, well, government, and generally that’s blue-city Democrat rule, has betrayed them. I read the linked report.

But the report never gets into specifics on which kind of government that distrust comes from — it often points to the Trump administration, when in fact it emphasizes that Latino voters focus on the tangible in their community, and that could only be local blue-city Democrat government, run by one party.

Some details:

• Almost half did not trust any level of government.

• When asked to pick one word to describe the government, nearly every participant chose a negative one.

• Many believed that “elites” deliberately stoked mistrust and benefited from it.

• Many have stopped believing that anyone in charge takes their responsibility seriously.

Again, like Republicans.

I liked this quote:

“Don’t come at me with this cultural pandering,” she said. “I want to know how you’re going to fight for me.”

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There was an emphasis on family and community values, on time (what Eric Hoffer called the ordinary Americans’ interest in just being left alone), and on inability to get ahead despite working and studying as per the American dream. Economy-wise, the focus was on the micro-economy one can see at the grocery store and in the Obamacare bill, all of which have given Democrats a fearsome battering at the polls as they look to break up families and raise taxes.

 These ads by Adrian E. Alvarez, who founded Latinos Por Pratt and did the first Spencer Saca la Bassura ads that were such a sensation, illustrate what the consultants found:

The distrust is all over there, resonating well with voters of all colors, actually.

There was this quote from the lefty consultant, indicating what many Americans of all colors feel:

While those interviewed are just a slice and may not be fully representative, these attitudes are far more negative compared with similar research done just three years ago. At the time, Way to Win researchers found that most Latinos believed they could “get ahead if they worked hard and played by the rules.” Now, these interviews “reveal a sentiment that hustle culture is dead,” said Tory Gavito, the president of Way to Win.

And while there are some areas Democrats will exploit, such as ‘tax the rich’ and ‘free healthcare,’ plus abusive ICE agents and the perception that people are being targeted for their skin color, which Democrats have promoted, what most of this comes down to is the phony promises of socialism.

Yet recall, the trust is broken, and it’s hard to think Latino voters are going to come back to Democrats the way they want them to because they have already trusted them on this and gotten nothing.

Democrats will no doubt put on a more sophisticated game around Latinos — watch the campaign of Xavier Becerra in California, which uses a lot of consultants — but it comes down to more than buzzwords or historic firsts. Trust is broken, and these voters are more like Republicans than Democrats can possibly admit. That makes them a tougher sell than Democrats expect. One hopes Democrats waste their time, and Latino voters will recognize their buzzwords for the nonsense they are, and steer clear of more false promises.

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Image: Grok, ai-generated image