Can Pro-Lifers Grab the Latino Vote?

In the course of researching a recent article on Latinos, I learned that their votes are by no means set in stone.

I was writing at Aleteia about the two duties of Catholics to Latinos. Since they are predominately Catholic (or lapsed Catholic) we have to be their point of entry to the culture such that we:

1. Reignite their faith through the rich devotional life of the Church.
2. Help root them in the right to life.

It is far from a given that Latinos will stay Catholic or vote to protect the unborn. Latinos quickly assimilate to life in America in one unfortunate way: Pew polling shows that Latinos are more pro-life, but that the longer they are here, the more likely they are to embrace the culture of death.

But I also happen to know that Latinos can be strongly pro-life, and even vote that way. My mother, born in Mexico, was strongly pro-life, and her example taught me to vote that way.

The numbers show that the Latino vote is changing even now. As I said in the article:

Tony Castro asked “Are Democrats Facing a Latino Political Exodus?” but if you asked, “Are pro-abortion politicians facing a Latino political exodus?” his numbers would still apply:

• In Texas, 44% of Latinos voted against pro-abortion gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.
• In Colorado, pro-abortion Senator Mark Udall lost a significant share of the Latino vote that he counted on, and lost his seat along with it.
• In Georgia 47% of the Latino vote chose pro-life Gov. Nathan Deal and 42%t voted down pro-abortion Senate candidate Michell Nunn.
• In Kansas, 47% of the Latino vote went to pro-life stalwart Gov. Sam Brownback.
• In Nevada, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval got 47% of the Latino vote, vastly different from his last run.
• In Florida, 45% of the Latino vote went for pro-life Gov. Rick Scott.

But I found other evidence, too. For instance, the Washington Post published an article called “Hispanics on a GOP Senate: Sure, Why Not?”

In it, Nia-Malika Henderson pointed out that Latinos are second-guessing the Democratic party.

This number jumped out at me from the new Washington Post/ABC News poll: It showed that, among Latinos, 50% say it doesn’t matter who wins the Senate come November. And among those who do think it will matter, twice as many say it would be a good thing (30%) if the GOP took over as say it would be a bad thing (15%).

Those of us raised by Mexican mothers are not all that surprised that Latinos are thinking for themselves and not simply doing what white liberals tell them to do.

And those of us who know the Democratic Party  platform calls for unlimited abortion, paid for by money taken directly from our paychecks and sent to abortion businesses, are not surprised the party is not a shoo-in with Mexicans.

But, alas, it is still the favorite. A Latin Post article noted that “Latino Voters Still Prefer Democrat Congressional Candidates.”

All the same, the article noted that younger Latinos are more likely to vote Republican than older Latinos. Citing Pew Research exit polling from the midterms, Michael Oleaga reported:

The 30- to 44-year-old group had a slightly narrower spread than the other voting groups as 56% favored Democrats, but 42% supported the GOP candidate.

The results of the lesson were alarming to National Council of La Raza Action Fund. In Huffington Post Blog, the organization said the midterm lesson Democrats should learn is “Don’t Take Latinos for Granted.” It pointed out that harshly pro-abortion candidate Wendy Davis lost in Texas.

So what percentage of the Latino vote did Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott get in his victory over the Democratic nominee, State Senator Wendy Davis? [It was] 44%, according to exit polling from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. … While African-American voters in Texas went 92% in favor of Davis, 73% of non-Latino white voters supported Abbott. Other exit polling largely matches the UT-Austin numbers. That combination of Anglo and Latino voters gave Abbott the landslide victory he achieved on Election Day.

The organization’s next blog entry, on Nov. 20, predicts that “GOP ‘Inroads’ With Latino Voters in 2014 Are Misleading, and Won’t Be Repeated in 2016.”

Maybe so. I think that all depends.  Latinos are not monolithic, but they tend to be more likely to protect the most helpless in society: the unborn. The GOP’s future might depend on it creating a clear compassionate alternative to pro-abortion cheerleaders like Davis.