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gimme gimme gimme
We voted – now let’s get things done. That was the strong takeaway today from Latino leaders and activists during a discussion of the sweeping and historic Latino vote in yesterday’s election.
“Last night Latinos confirmed unequivocally that the road to the White House goes through Hispanic neighborhoods,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, from the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). ”The Latino giant is wide awake, cranky and is taking names,” said labor leader Eliseo Medina, of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Yesterday’s Latino vote made history in two ways. Over 12 million Latinos came out to vote, according to preliminary numbers, and for all the handwringing about whether Latinos would have the enthusiasm or numbers to vote, this is a 22 percent increase from 2008. Just over 10 percent of the nation’s voters were Hispanic.
Moreover, President Obama received 75 percent of the Latino vote, according to impreMedia/Latino Decisions exit polls, thus obtaining the highest number of Latino voters; President Clinton received about 72 percent in 1996.
These numbers translated to a “watershed moment,” in the words of Latino Decisions co-principal and Stanford University political scientist Gary Segura. For the first time in history, Segura explained, the Latino vote can plausibly claim to be nationally decisive in the presidential election. Latinos gave a 5.3 percent bump to President Obama, according to Latino Decisions’ numbers. This was crucial in battleground states with close margins between Obama and Romney.
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