Depending on which exit poll you believe, President Obama won 71% or 75% of the Hispanic vote. Either way it was a major demographic force comprising 10% of the electorate, which practically guaranteed his reelection.
But politics aside, there is an even greater Hispanic force at work in our nation – one which makes every day Election Day, and that is when Hispanics vote with their wallets as consumers.
Recently I read a Nielsen Company report entitled State of the Hispanic Consumer: The Hispanic Market Imperative
Nielsen, although known more for its TV ratings, is also a marketing firm that watches and reports on consumer behavior. Nielsen’s Hispanic consumer marketing report released this past April makes a concluding statement which aging baby boomers like myself might find somewhat disturbing because it conflicts with a concept that we learned in school long ago; a rather unique concept that helped make America into a great nation.
Here are the six topic statements of the report. Can you guess which one I find disturbing?
- Latinos are a fundamental component to business success, and not a passing niche on the sidelines.
- Rapid Latino population growth will persist, even if immigration is completely halted.
- Latinos have amassed significant buying power, despite perceptions to the contrary.
- Hispanics are the largest immigrant group to exhibit significant culture sustainability and are not disappearing into the American melting pot.
- Technology and media use do not mirror the general market but have distinct patterns due to language, culture, and ownership dynamics.
- Latinos exhibit distinct product consumption patterns and are not buying in ways that are the same as the total market.
The answer is the fourth bullet point which dispenses with a key “ingredient” that gives “the American melting pot” its flavor and strength. This ingredient is known to have enabled our nation to become the light of the world and we call it assimilation.
According to Nielsen, since assimilation is not occurring among our largest and fasting growing demographic group, I will take the liberty to re-word that fourth statement with a question that reads:
If “Hispanics are the largest immigrant group to exhibit significant culture sustainability and are not disappearing into the American melting pot” is our nation at risk of being culturally fractured and ultimately weakened?
The answer is yet to be determined since Hispanic culture’s “not disappearing into the American melting pot” is a fundamental change and one that this nation has never experienced on such a massive scale, but is about to.
From the beginning, an integral part of our nation’s history was the immigrant story. There was a joy about “coming to America” and part of that joy (and risk) was voluntarily surrendering aspects of your old heritage (especially your native language) into a great “melting pot” which ultimately forged the strong can do attitude of the “American Way.” This attitude was embraced by all and sustained our nation through both difficult and prosperous times.
Now, is Nielsen’s research stating that Hispanics are exhibiting “significant cultural sustainability” a politically correct way of saying Hispanics are resisting “Americanization” more than the other large ethic groups that once came to our shores?
Maybe so, but that hardly matters to marketing or political consultants who after reading this Nielsen Report must find ways to adapt their businesses or candidates to a “less melted” America. If not they run the risk of losing market share, going out of business or losing elections due to major demographic changes happening in the Hispanic community that no business, candidate or party can ignore.
For over the last 20 years all non-Hispanic Americans have embraced Hispanics as part of our new “American Way,” and now that embrace will grow even stronger as 50,000 Hispanic teenagers turn 18 every month for the next two decades.
The Nielsen Report makes something of an understatement by concluding that this demographic bulge will result in a “future American culture with a strong Hispanic flavor.”
But it is my hope that this “strong Hispanic flavor” will still manage to be uniquely American.
I don’t know, Myra — I grew up in the part of Colorado where a lot of people speak Spanish first and have for 300 years, where we often have huevos rancheros for breakfast and school lunches used to often include beef enchiladas, and place names are like Huerfanito and Trinidad and Pueblo. I think Hispanics are assimilating the gringos just fine.
Charlie, do you remember when Colorado cars sported the bumper stickers “Don’t Californicate Colorado”?
My grandparents came from Germany, and they brought schnitzel, but they left (more or less) the Prussian cultural bureaucratic/fascism behind.
If you tell people they are not American, guess what , they don’t identify as American. Half the right wing columnists talk about how Catholic Mexicans aren’t really Catholics, and how Mexican’s can never assimilate.
One day I was arguing with a work mate about politics. stupid thing to do I know. What it came down to is I thought he had a vested interest in the success of his new country. He told while he was taking his bike to work that day some lady honked at him, right behind him and told him to go back where he came from.
We need to get over the ‘go back where you came from’. This is just the same line the old racists used when they were Democrats.
Its no mistake that the Conservative revolution of the 80′s required us to purge the racists and John Birchers. they will not win any elections.
Yes, it’s a bad thing when someone honks at a Hispanic on a bicycle. And yes, it’s a bad thing when a Hispanic listens to bigots whose most extreme opinions don’t really mirror the opinions of average Americans.
But the “who do Hispanics vote for” question is much more pandemic and simple. Mexicans come from a culture where (1) corruption is beyond rampant (2) diversity is practically non-existent (3) a single language is the current state of the art (4) big government is epic (5) poverty is an epidemic (6) education is not a “way up” and (7) there is virtually no middle class.
Of course, Hispanics are going to favor the party/sub-culture of entitlements and “free stuff”. In fact, it’s amazing that any Hispanics would vote Republican.
In addition, there is the historical fact that the Republican Party has been the party of big-government, entitlements for big-business and the home of Richie Rich. The fact that Republican populists have been religious fanatics has not helped.
This is why the economic crisis is a boon for Democrats instead of an albatross to hang around Obama’s neck. Yes, when the economy is in pain, poor people are in agony. But when those people vote, they’re going to vote for people who promise them immediate palliatives (i.e. entitlements and “free stuff”) rather than those who promise them the siren call of a path up and into the middle class.
Expect things to get worse in Hispanic land.
Actually that friend was an Indian. In general anyone who looks different gets the treatment. And if you think that’s going to help out go right ahead telling hard working middle class people, or rich, they are poor welfare slugs before you even get to know them.
Wow Paul…After illuminating all of us to the many horrifying things that Mexicans face within their country I am shocked with your response. I am a conservative but if I were a Latino and looking to America as a place to escape to, I would not be thinking,”free stuff here I come.” I would be thinking I need to get out of this country before it kills me and my family! I would be thinking that at least in America I have a chance to make a living. Like I previously stated, I blame our government for dropping the ball with the immigration problem. My question is when will pick it up again?
Here is a splash of cold water: how Hispanics have voted over the last 30 years. Yes, that’s right … 30 years.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10151099215925946
–1980 Jimmy Carter, 56% Ronald Reagan, 35% +21
–1984 Walter Mondale, 61% Ronald Reagan, 37% +24
–1988 Michael Dukakis, 69% George H.W. Bush, 30% +39
–1992 Bill Clinton, 61% George H.W. Bush, 25% +36
–1996 Bill Clinton, 72% Bob Dole, 21% +51
–2000 Al Gore, 62% George W. Bush, 35% +27
–2004 John Kerry, 58% George W. Bush, 40% +18
–2008 Barack Obama, 67% John McCain, 31% +36
–2012 Barack Obama, 71% Mitt Romney, 27% +44
Latinos are Democrats in Hispanic clothing. Don’t let anyone tell you
otherwise.
Hispanic immigration and amnesty are specifically designed to move the US left. Ted Kennedy used immigration to increase the proportion of dependent citizens to bolster the Democratic party and to ensure that there were always enough poor people to justify the welfare state.
Without hispanic immigration, lack of assimilation, and multi-generational poverty, their would be diminished demand for the programs the Democratic party use to justify the exampansion of state control.
Reagan blew it with Simpson-Bowles, McCain would have blown it with amnesty – let’s not let Boehner do the same.
Imagine what the last two elections would have looked like with 5-10 million fewer Democratic voters. Imagine what the next 4 will look like with an increasing number of such voters.
Ted Kennedy killed the America of our Founding Fathers.
Don’t assume all Latinos are the same and behave and act alike. It is true, we are subcultures within subculture, and part of the big American Dream. do you know that by the third generation Latinos don’t identify at all with the Spanish language? As a matter of fact, we don’t call ourselves Latinos, we call ourselves Americans.
Case in point, I am a first generation Latino, have two kids and my kids are struggling with Spanish. I am sending my kids to Spain via a summer program so they can learn proper Spanish. My grand kids, most likely will not speak Spanish.
I have a MBA, married to an attorney, and yes, I am Republican, Center right to be specific. I have nothing in common with the far right column of the Republican Party. We are Republicans by heart, but due to wrong assumptions and some nutcases in the right most Latinos turn to the dems. It takes a clear message and honestly in telling Latinos that the Republican party is the party of the American Dream. Mitt, did not said anything close to it.
In conclusion my friends, we are a very dynamic group of people who love this country, and yes I am a proud US Veteran who served in combat in Desert Storm, Kuwait, 1991. I am American by love of country and God.
ant Hispanic techly europen why are they their own sub group
– fornia already exists and is dying.
The inability of the federal government to regulate a national immigration policy that lends itself to an orderly,integration of immigrants who seek to become citizens of this country hasled to an Hispanic population with at least two generations of individuals who don’t feel like they are part of this country. When Europeans came to this country it was orderly and regulated. Immigrants were assimilated into the culture, taught the english language, the US Constitution and history. This process, for some reason, has been nearly abandoned or at the very least extremely lax.
If the federal government had not dropped the ball on this issue so long ago Americans would not be looking at other human beings the way they do today. This political game has destroyed the fibers of this country and if we are going to change it we need to dump the politicians that say they care and do nothing and elect those who recognize the problem for what it is and are willing to set the ball in motion to remedy the issue now so we can have the united country we need to succeed in future national endeavors.