I’m going to listen to these. It’s always bugged me how so many of us in politics assume latinos or any identity group will vote in some unison form. I actually think we’re headed to a place in America where a person’s identity is going to stop being as sure of an indicator of how they will vote. As you’ve notes numerous times before, a lot of the voter divide is happening across educational lines now.
This is why I am proud Harris has taken on a working class message. That reaches a wide majority of voters and doesn’t rely on assumptions or stereotypes based on peoples identity. It also speaks to the universal issues impacting almost all Americans.
Wow, what a great podcast within this article! I loved hearing about the people Gustavo met on his roadtrip and their nuanced views of local and national politics based on their heritage and lived experiences. We as Americans need more exposure to people’s individual stories to heal the sharp political and tribal trenches into which we’ve dug ourselves.
Also, it hit me when listening to the first part of this podcast that caste applies in the Latino world as well and explains why so many Latinos support MAGA when to the objective observer its values are clearly against their interests. I’d just heard Isabel Wilkerson referencing her NYT best-selling book Caste: The Origins of our Discontent on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show Last Word Tonight when explaining why the MAGA base supports Trump when his economic policies and racism hurt them. She explained her book’s main argument that subconscious caste hierarchies drive people to want to keep their societal position and advantages. White people see the demographic changes in the US and want to go back to a time when they had power and prestige that was formally and informally granted by caste. So it makes total sense to see caste in play when a first-generation Mexican-American looks down a few rungs on the caste ladder to say that Venezuelans and Haitians crossing the border don’t deserve to come in or that they’re lazy, etc. As a white person, I’m petrified that anyone of color will be subject to Trump’s deportation raids indiscriminately. But everyone’s viewpoint (including that of the newest immigrant) is biased based on where they’re perceived to sit in the caste hierarchy and unless you consciously recognize how destructive caste is you’ll work to maintain it to society’s overall detriment
This issue has always nagged at me too. There is too much variation to be a “bloc” per se. Rather a diverse group with some commonalities. Must be considered more carefully as you advocate. Very timely analysis.
After doing our assignment, the short answer I have for Mike and our online community is yes, I think that the Latino Voter bloc is a myth. To be honest, I never thought it was an actual voting bloc, because my personal experience has told me that it isn’t. However, Latinidad, and the kinship felt among Latinos is very much real, even if they do not necessarily vote the same way or live in the same community. I agree with both Jim and Peter that drawing distinctions among voters using a broad ethnicity ID like “Latino” can be pretty fruitless, especially when targeting a specific economic class of voter on the national stage. The Latino vote will continue to diminish if Dems (assuming Harris wins) cannot help fix the economic roadblocks for small businesses while simultaneously providing kitchen table relief and the opportunity to build financial security for those working in the service and physical labor industries.
Read on if you want to hear about the top myths I see with the Latino Vote being a bloc. This should probably be a substack instead of a note, so maybe I’ll turn it into one, but not today.
First a quick background of who I am so you can get a grip of my perspective. I am female, in my 50s, half Mexican American and a 6th generation Texan living not far from where our people have lived for hundreds of years, before Texas/Mexico was part of the United States. I grew up in a west Texas town of 100,000. Half of my primary education (ages 4-17) was in private school, the second half was in public school. I graduated from the University of Texas in History with a minor in Spanish. Most of my family are doctors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, and/or small business owners. My Spanish-as-a-first-language grandmother went to college with LBJ- education means everything to our family, for both genders.
I’m going to lay out some common myths that I believe surround Latinos, to help explain why I think the Latino voter is a myth.
(Side note: If someone's ethnicity was referred to at all, it was referred to as Mexican, or Mexican American- since every Latino I knew had roots in Mexico or was actually Mexican. If someone had roots from a different country, say Nicaragua, they would just identify as that, not Latino. We didn’t use the term Latino, and DEFINITELY not LatinX. Chicano felt like it was purely a California thing. Latino seems to have been created to help the powers that be create a category to be able to sort people into buckets for consumer marketing as well as voting reasons. Check out this short History.com article on the labels of Hispanic/Latino/LatinX if this tangent interests you- https://www.history.com/news/hispanic-latino-latinx-chicano-background).
Myth #1: All Latinos are Democrats.
I don’t know any Latino Democrats, like zero. Even the “wokosos” (nice term, Gustavo) or progressive Latinos I know are not card carrying Democrats, even if they generally vote with them. However, I do know many Republican Latinos, and most of them are on the Trump train, but I am in Texas after all. I think most Latinos I know are Rancho Libertarian- please read Gustavo’s essay on this- https://substack.com/@gustavoarellano/note/p-140064071?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=1r6229 Ha- reading my reply just gets you more homework! But it’s good homework!
Myth #2: All Latinos are blue collar, working class.
My own family has been Methodists since the mid 1800s. Many, MANY Latinos are evangelical, especially in rural areas. And there have been Hispanic Jews in Texas for centuries. While the majority of Latinos may be from a Catholic background, they definitely are not ALL Catholic.
Myth #4: Latinos primarily care about immigration.
Well, yes, but not in the way a lot of Democrats may think. In my experience, Latinos care deeply about the economic benefits of immigration and the labor that immigrants bring to the table, just like most Texans- just as Gustavo found on his travels. While the migrant plight garners empathy, and communities and activists give much support to migrants, it does not drive the average Latino citizen’s political (economic) agenda, something which Mike keeps hammering home.
Myth #5: All Latinos speak Spanish.
We don’t. We intermarry with English speakers. We adopt the dominant cultures in the cities and towns that we live in. In the process it becomes easier and easier to lose the language that most of us had. I’m not fluent in Spanish, as much as I wish I were. Did you also know that neither was Selena? But she was a unifier like no other, and she sang in Spanish. I should also point out that some people grouped with Latinos never spoke Spanish, like Brazilians.
Myth #6: All Latinos are brown.
Some are white, some are brown, some are black; everyone seems to be mestizos (mixed) of some sort, although my own grandfather attributed his hardiness to his “sangre de indio” (native blood) of which he was- no Spanish ancestry with him. Can we finally stop checking the white and black boxes on the census?? And yes, there is some racism among Latinos as well. That’s a discussion for another day.
But it’s also obvious that Latinos still group ourselves together! What are the similarities that bind us? There is definitely a cultural aspect to this, but what is it? What draws me to other Latinos? Where is our kinship? I do know it is there. I have encountered it my whole life.
Just like when you feel kinship with someone else that you meet in your travels (online or in real life), you find your common threads. I think the most common threads for all people, and therefore Latinos, are common language (Spanish for many Latinos in the US, even for the ones who aren’t fluent), geography, faith, family organization/norms of how we spend time together, shared experience and struggle, especially if that experience is rooted in youth, and definitely a general belief system as well as outlook on life (optimistic people tend to be attracted to one another, while misery loves company). You don’t have to agree on how you are voting to have common threads like these.
I like Gustavo’s sunflower take, after his 11 hour meditation drive toward the end of his travels. He likens sunflowers growing heartily alongside the roads in the southwest to the Latino population- beautiful, optimistic, resilient, and essential. He says, “We’re all individual petals connected not to an idea of latinidad but to one thing that ties us together: the United States.”
Truly- we are ALL Americans first, even if we have commonalities and shared kinship with some Americans more than others. If we focus on doing good in our local communities, contributing where and how we can, cherishing relationships and cultivating solidarity among difference, then we will naturally strengthen the quilt of our democratic republic.
This most definitely needs to be a Substack post, Linda! Your myth-busting is amazingly helpful in striping away some of my "white guy" (German/English/Irish/Italian lineage + recovering Catholic) blinders. Thank you for that!
What I see, and spoke to in my initial comment, is an important distinction between the "Latino Voter" (the objectified demographic that campaigns deal with), and the real-life human beings that make up the culture. It is the latter (real people) that need and can benefit from well-target government programs and policies, regardless of who they vote for. Not being versed in the practice of politics, I feel the the former (the quantifiable objective LV demographic), is above my pay grade.
When I listen to all of the stories Gustavo told in the Mike Drop podcast, it seems that the common economic theme, cultural aspects notwithstanding, closely resembles the theme of stories that you might hear from any "blue collar", "working class" person. If we agree that the ultimate goal here are policies and programs which help make lives better, then the distinction between Latino and non-Latino may not be a useful one. Perhaps politicians need to start focusing on how to *listen to* all of the working class, including Latinos, and taking the needs of these people seriously.
My gut answer to your question is yes. Totally excited to get homework (especially Gustavo's), and I'm going to assume the rest of the nerds on here are also. I'll check back in soon. Thanks, Mike.
Gracias again!
I’m going to listen to these. It’s always bugged me how so many of us in politics assume latinos or any identity group will vote in some unison form. I actually think we’re headed to a place in America where a person’s identity is going to stop being as sure of an indicator of how they will vote. As you’ve notes numerous times before, a lot of the voter divide is happening across educational lines now.
This is why I am proud Harris has taken on a working class message. That reaches a wide majority of voters and doesn’t rely on assumptions or stereotypes based on peoples identity. It also speaks to the universal issues impacting almost all Americans.
"We're not that different until we are..." is something that Jews have learned over and over...there is so much more to say on this.
Wow, what a great podcast within this article! I loved hearing about the people Gustavo met on his roadtrip and their nuanced views of local and national politics based on their heritage and lived experiences. We as Americans need more exposure to people’s individual stories to heal the sharp political and tribal trenches into which we’ve dug ourselves.
Also, it hit me when listening to the first part of this podcast that caste applies in the Latino world as well and explains why so many Latinos support MAGA when to the objective observer its values are clearly against their interests. I’d just heard Isabel Wilkerson referencing her NYT best-selling book Caste: The Origins of our Discontent on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show Last Word Tonight when explaining why the MAGA base supports Trump when his economic policies and racism hurt them. She explained her book’s main argument that subconscious caste hierarchies drive people to want to keep their societal position and advantages. White people see the demographic changes in the US and want to go back to a time when they had power and prestige that was formally and informally granted by caste. So it makes total sense to see caste in play when a first-generation Mexican-American looks down a few rungs on the caste ladder to say that Venezuelans and Haitians crossing the border don’t deserve to come in or that they’re lazy, etc. As a white person, I’m petrified that anyone of color will be subject to Trump’s deportation raids indiscriminately. But everyone’s viewpoint (including that of the newest immigrant) is biased based on where they’re perceived to sit in the caste hierarchy and unless you consciously recognize how destructive caste is you’ll work to maintain it to society’s overall detriment
Thank you for this homework.
This issue has always nagged at me too. There is too much variation to be a “bloc” per se. Rather a diverse group with some commonalities. Must be considered more carefully as you advocate. Very timely analysis.
After doing our assignment, the short answer I have for Mike and our online community is yes, I think that the Latino Voter bloc is a myth. To be honest, I never thought it was an actual voting bloc, because my personal experience has told me that it isn’t. However, Latinidad, and the kinship felt among Latinos is very much real, even if they do not necessarily vote the same way or live in the same community. I agree with both Jim and Peter that drawing distinctions among voters using a broad ethnicity ID like “Latino” can be pretty fruitless, especially when targeting a specific economic class of voter on the national stage. The Latino vote will continue to diminish if Dems (assuming Harris wins) cannot help fix the economic roadblocks for small businesses while simultaneously providing kitchen table relief and the opportunity to build financial security for those working in the service and physical labor industries.
Read on if you want to hear about the top myths I see with the Latino Vote being a bloc. This should probably be a substack instead of a note, so maybe I’ll turn it into one, but not today.
First a quick background of who I am so you can get a grip of my perspective. I am female, in my 50s, half Mexican American and a 6th generation Texan living not far from where our people have lived for hundreds of years, before Texas/Mexico was part of the United States. I grew up in a west Texas town of 100,000. Half of my primary education (ages 4-17) was in private school, the second half was in public school. I graduated from the University of Texas in History with a minor in Spanish. Most of my family are doctors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, and/or small business owners. My Spanish-as-a-first-language grandmother went to college with LBJ- education means everything to our family, for both genders.
I’m going to lay out some common myths that I believe surround Latinos, to help explain why I think the Latino voter is a myth.
(Side note: If someone's ethnicity was referred to at all, it was referred to as Mexican, or Mexican American- since every Latino I knew had roots in Mexico or was actually Mexican. If someone had roots from a different country, say Nicaragua, they would just identify as that, not Latino. We didn’t use the term Latino, and DEFINITELY not LatinX. Chicano felt like it was purely a California thing. Latino seems to have been created to help the powers that be create a category to be able to sort people into buckets for consumer marketing as well as voting reasons. Check out this short History.com article on the labels of Hispanic/Latino/LatinX if this tangent interests you- https://www.history.com/news/hispanic-latino-latinx-chicano-background).
Myth #1: All Latinos are Democrats.
I don’t know any Latino Democrats, like zero. Even the “wokosos” (nice term, Gustavo) or progressive Latinos I know are not card carrying Democrats, even if they generally vote with them. However, I do know many Republican Latinos, and most of them are on the Trump train, but I am in Texas after all. I think most Latinos I know are Rancho Libertarian- please read Gustavo’s essay on this- https://substack.com/@gustavoarellano/note/p-140064071?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=1r6229 Ha- reading my reply just gets you more homework! But it’s good homework!
Myth #2: All Latinos are blue collar, working class.
While a majority of Latinos are working class, a good portion are in the professional class as well- about 25%- according to labor force stats. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2021/
Myth #3: All Latinos are Catholic.
My own family has been Methodists since the mid 1800s. Many, MANY Latinos are evangelical, especially in rural areas. And there have been Hispanic Jews in Texas for centuries. While the majority of Latinos may be from a Catholic background, they definitely are not ALL Catholic.
Myth #4: Latinos primarily care about immigration.
Well, yes, but not in the way a lot of Democrats may think. In my experience, Latinos care deeply about the economic benefits of immigration and the labor that immigrants bring to the table, just like most Texans- just as Gustavo found on his travels. While the migrant plight garners empathy, and communities and activists give much support to migrants, it does not drive the average Latino citizen’s political (economic) agenda, something which Mike keeps hammering home.
Myth #5: All Latinos speak Spanish.
We don’t. We intermarry with English speakers. We adopt the dominant cultures in the cities and towns that we live in. In the process it becomes easier and easier to lose the language that most of us had. I’m not fluent in Spanish, as much as I wish I were. Did you also know that neither was Selena? But she was a unifier like no other, and she sang in Spanish. I should also point out that some people grouped with Latinos never spoke Spanish, like Brazilians.
Myth #6: All Latinos are brown.
Some are white, some are brown, some are black; everyone seems to be mestizos (mixed) of some sort, although my own grandfather attributed his hardiness to his “sangre de indio” (native blood) of which he was- no Spanish ancestry with him. Can we finally stop checking the white and black boxes on the census?? And yes, there is some racism among Latinos as well. That’s a discussion for another day.
But it’s also obvious that Latinos still group ourselves together! What are the similarities that bind us? There is definitely a cultural aspect to this, but what is it? What draws me to other Latinos? Where is our kinship? I do know it is there. I have encountered it my whole life.
Just like when you feel kinship with someone else that you meet in your travels (online or in real life), you find your common threads. I think the most common threads for all people, and therefore Latinos, are common language (Spanish for many Latinos in the US, even for the ones who aren’t fluent), geography, faith, family organization/norms of how we spend time together, shared experience and struggle, especially if that experience is rooted in youth, and definitely a general belief system as well as outlook on life (optimistic people tend to be attracted to one another, while misery loves company). You don’t have to agree on how you are voting to have common threads like these.
I like Gustavo’s sunflower take, after his 11 hour meditation drive toward the end of his travels. He likens sunflowers growing heartily alongside the roads in the southwest to the Latino population- beautiful, optimistic, resilient, and essential. He says, “We’re all individual petals connected not to an idea of latinidad but to one thing that ties us together: the United States.”
Truly- we are ALL Americans first, even if we have commonalities and shared kinship with some Americans more than others. If we focus on doing good in our local communities, contributing where and how we can, cherishing relationships and cultivating solidarity among difference, then we will naturally strengthen the quilt of our democratic republic.
This most definitely needs to be a Substack post, Linda! Your myth-busting is amazingly helpful in striping away some of my "white guy" (German/English/Irish/Italian lineage + recovering Catholic) blinders. Thank you for that!
What I see, and spoke to in my initial comment, is an important distinction between the "Latino Voter" (the objectified demographic that campaigns deal with), and the real-life human beings that make up the culture. It is the latter (real people) that need and can benefit from well-target government programs and policies, regardless of who they vote for. Not being versed in the practice of politics, I feel the the former (the quantifiable objective LV demographic), is above my pay grade.
When I listen to all of the stories Gustavo told in the Mike Drop podcast, it seems that the common economic theme, cultural aspects notwithstanding, closely resembles the theme of stories that you might hear from any "blue collar", "working class" person. If we agree that the ultimate goal here are policies and programs which help make lives better, then the distinction between Latino and non-Latino may not be a useful one. Perhaps politicians need to start focusing on how to *listen to* all of the working class, including Latinos, and taking the needs of these people seriously.
I'm afraid I'm going to be turning in my homework late 😅 but I'm looking forward to doing it!
My gut answer to your question is yes. Totally excited to get homework (especially Gustavo's), and I'm going to assume the rest of the nerds on here are also. I'll check back in soon. Thanks, Mike.