Spanish-Language Media Seek to Push Latinos to Polls
Days before the midterm elections, Spanish-language media have unveiled a get-out-the-vote blitz to energize Hispanic voters, whose turnout could be decisive in many races.
In a campaign called "Tu Voto, Tu Futuro" (Your Vote, Your Future), newscasts on Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language network, this week have devoted segments to such questions as how to vote and the importance of voting. Telemundo's website and social media are also participating.
"There are 12 million Hispanic registered voters…If we all vote on Nov. 2, we will make a decisive impact," says one spot featuring Judge Cristina Pereyra, star of the network's court show, "Veredicto Final" (Final Verdict).
"We are going to be banging the drum of 'You have to go vote, you have to go vote,'" said Ramon Escobar, Telemundo's executive vice president of network news, in an interview.
Although Latinos are projected to make up less than 10% of the nation's voters in November and are less likely to cast a ballot than the rest of the electorate, their participation could be decisive in states like Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas, which have large Hispanic populations and competitive races.
A strong Latino turnout is particularly important to the Democratic Party as it struggles to hold on to seats in the House and Senate. In southwestern states, Latinos lean Democratic. In New Mexico last year, 66% were registered as Democrats, while in Arizona 51% were Democrats and in Colorado the number was 52%.
It is unusual for mainstream media companies to mount a public-service effort that seems to benefit a particular constituency. But Spanish-language media traditionally have sought to serve an educational role for their audience, and they see encouraging civic participation as central to their mission.
"The political empowerment of Latinos has been a priority for Univision for some time, as we believe it is the only way elected officials will address the issues that concern and affect the community," said Maria Elena Salinas, co-anchor of Univision Network News, who appears on one of the several public-service announcements the company is airing.
Not everyone in the Hispanic community has been enthusiastic about getting about the vote. The campaign comes on the heels of an ad by a conservative Latino group that aired briefly in Nevada, calling on Hispanics to stay away from the polls because Congress had failed to pass an immigration overhaul.
"That ad underscored the need to make sure the community understands the privilege and responsibility to vote," said Mr. Escobar.
Despite the swelling importance of Latino voters, Spanish-language media haven't normally garnered the attention of political candidates because they are perceived as having the eyeballs of illegal immigrants or of non-English speakers alienated from the political process.
That perception appears to be changing. This season, Univision hosted a debate with gubernatorial candidates in California and Florida, as well as Senate hopefuls in Florida. The chairmen of both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee appeared on Al Punto, a Sunday morning talk show on the network.
President Obama visited the studios of Univision radio in Los Angeles last week for an interview with popular talk-show host Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo. The president said he shared Latino frustration over lack of an immigration overhaul, which he had promised to deliver during his first year in office. An interview with Michelle Obama aired Thursday on the show.
About 60% of registered Hispanic voters cast a ballot in the last midterm election, in 2006, compared with 71.5% for the rest of the U.S. voting population. A poll released this week by Latino Decisions, an independent pollster, found that 60% of Latino voters now say they are "very enthusiastic" about voting, up from 41% in early September.
The election-information hotline set up by the National Alliance for Latino Elected Officials, advertised on Univision TV and its website, received more than 1,200 calls on the first few hours of operation Tuesday. The hotline is funded by the Carnegie and Ford foundations, among others.
"It's a higher call volume than we expected," says Evan Bacalao, the organization's senior director of civic engagement. "There is heightened interest among Latinos."
Pollster Matt Barreto, who teaches political science at the University of Washington, attributed the surge in enthusiasm to what he described as an anti-immigrant tone in some Republican campaigns, coupled with the get-out-the-vote efforts.
The ad urging Latinos not to vote aired five times on Univision's Spanish-language radio in Nevada before the company pulled it. A Univision spokeswoman described it as an "oversight."
On Telemundo last weekend, Robert de Posada, president of Latinos for Reform, which produced the "Don't Vote" ad, said it was a "mistake."
In an interview Thursday, Mr. de Posada said, "If I had to do it all over again, I would play with the words."
"We are telling people when you go vote, go vote for state representative, school board, governor," he said, but not for Congress that failed to pass immigration reform. The ad had actually helped motivate Latino political participation, he added. "What you are going to see is more engagement."