Political organizations backing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are playing up the “liberty” messages of both campaigns as they tap Latinas, a key voting bloc.
Hispanic women are the fastest growing female racial or ethnic group in the 12 years from 2010 to 2022. According to the Pew Research CenterThe number increased by 5.6 million to 22.2 million as of last May. They make up about 17% of the country’s adult female population.
They too they will vote more More so than Latino men.
And Latinas we saw gains in education and employment, they still struggle with low wages and disproportionately live in states with abortion bans.
So it was no coincidence that when Harris summarized his “freedom fight” platform at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference last Thursday, he included “women’s freedom” along with the freedom to vote and the freedom to be safe from gun violence. decisions about her own body and not having the government tell her what to do.
Also last week, two Republican political action committees supporting Trump launched Latinas for Freedom to reach Hispanic women about the economy and the Harris agenda. The GOP PACs behind the initiative are CPAC Unidos, the Hispanic arm of the Conservative Political Action Committee, and Bienvenido Action PAC.
The freedom messages come amid a tight race in key battleground states. In 2016 against Hillary Clinton, Trump won only 28% of Hispanic female voters, compared to Clinton’s 67%. According to Pew. But in 2020, Trump’s share among Latinos rose to 37%, and President Joe Biden’s share to 61%. Pew found.
Harris’ support among Latinos in 13 battleground states It was 60% Latinos voted in August, compared to 34% for Trump, according to Democratic polling firm Equis Research.
Stephanie Valencia, founder of Equis, He told the 19th news Harris is doing 13 points better than Biden with Latinas under 40.
Also, Latino voter registration increased in at least 13 states when Biden left the race to endorse Harris. According to TargetSmart CEO Tom Bonier.
When comparing the week of July 21 this year to the same week in 2020, enrollment for Latinas 18-29 increased 149.7% and for Latinos of all ages 78.3%.
Reproductive rights as “freedom”.
Freedom to have an abortion, use IVF, or make decisions about other reproductive issues is a major issue for Democrats, while Republicans see it as a minor issue.
Republican Mercedes Schlapp, one of the organizers of “Latinas for Freedom”, said that the issue of abortion is a matter for the states to decide. Harris and Walz are “excessive on abortion. It’s not where the majority of Americans believe 15 to 20 weeks should be,” NBC News said.
But close 7 million Latinas Ages 15 to 49 live in states that have abortion bans — Texas has an almost complete ban and Florida has a ban after six weeks — or lives in states that are considering bans. The number of women in Texas who die during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after birth has increased dramatically since the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care. According to an NBC News analysis, including an increase in Latino deaths.
Texas also saw its teen fertility rate rise for the first time in 15 years disproportionate increase among LatinasExperts attributed the state’s implementation of a six-week abortion ban.
A September 12-16 Associated Press-NORC poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Spanish Protestants and about two-thirds of Spanish Catholics abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
Shortly after Harris launched her presidential campaign, PODER PAC co-founder Ingrid Pino Duran and fellow Latina lawmakers Nydia Velázquez, DN.Y. — “Latinas for Kamala” Zoom calls followed by black female supporters.
Duran said many women at the hearings argued that their daughters would have fewer reproductive health rights than young women because of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade overturned his decision.
“This is nothing but abortion. It’s about the government not telling you what to do with your body,” he said.
The Harris campaign focuses on protecting the right to IVF treatment new TV and digital advertising Featuring a young woman named Yesenia, she says that she and her active-duty military husband are “patriots and going to their destination.” He asks: “What if we end up in a state that is no longer legal?”
Harris and Democrats attacked Senate Republicans prevents a vote on IVF protection twice. Trump said he would Protecting access to IVF and the government or insurance companies have to pay for it, but he also said will vote against Ballot measure repealing Florida’s six-week abortion ban.
Extolling freedom against “socialist” politics
Thorniness IVF and abortion because Trump and the Republicans have refocused the party on the economy, an area of greater strength for Trump.
Schlapp said the PACs that make up Latinas for Freedom want to “inform voters about what Kamala’s economy looks like,” pointing out that Latinos’ main concern right now is the economy.
The group defines freedom for Latinos as freedom from what they call “socialist” economic policies. Socialism is often used by Republicans to reach Latino voters who have experienced authoritarian or socialist dictators in their homelands or in the countries of previous generations of their families.
“We have to make sure we don’t raise taxes. We need to make sure there are fewer regulations so that small businesses can thrive. We have to make sure that we don’t continue to raise corporate taxes, because that’s all the cost goes to consumers and then corporations leave this country,” Schlapp said.
He referred to Harris’ proposal price increase ban by food suppliers and grocery stores as a way to control inflation and reduce the cost of living. “It’s a lot of what you see in socialist countries,” Schlapp said.
However, there are already anti-price gouging laws available in several states and is often used during a disaster. Bills addressing such issues have been introduced or passed at the federal level ticket price and the price of gasoline.
Although Latinos currently lead 27% of all Latino-owned businesses, they are starting businesses at a faster rate than Latino men and white men and women. 2023 report by the Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative at Stanford.
But Latina and other women entrepreneurs face challenges growing and sustaining their businesses, including lack of access to financing and gaps in winning government contracts.
PODER PAC’s Duran noted that Harris is proposing a $50,000 tax credit for each small business startup.
“When we started our business 20 years ago, $50,000 would have been a big help for us,” said Duran, who owns a political and business consulting firm. “We started with nothing. Something like this can have a huge impact … it’s a game changer.”
Both parties stressed that Latinas are vital to the outcome of the election.
“We make a lot of these financial decisions, and obviously they’re a very powerful constituency in this election,” said Schlapp, a senior fellow at the Conservative Political Action Conference and a former Trump White House adviser.
Duran emphasized the influence that Latinas often have in families. “Latinas are the ones who run everything in the family,” she said. “If mom says we do it, then we do it.”