"The Effort To Turn Out Latino Voters In Iowa Worked"

[suffragette]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/the-effort-to-turn-out-latino-voters-in-iowa-worked#.yp9A3aBgN

The initiative by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) aimed to get 10,000 out of 50,000 registered Latino voters to caucus sites by repeatedly contacting them through phone calls and door knocks. NBC News exit poll shows that 4% of Democratic caucus-goers were Hispanic and 2% were on the Republican side. With both sides seeing huge turnout (171,000 for the Democrats and more than 180,000 for the GOP) that comes out to close to 10,500 Latinos.
Only 1,000 Latinos caucused in 2012. In 2008, when the race was competitive for both Democrats and Republicans, that number was 3,500.
LULAC, drawing from responses campaign field staff received from phone calls, door-knocking, and “Commit to Caucus” returns from mailers, believes the number is closer to 13,000.
“We did our part, Latinos played our part,” said LULAC Iowa political director Christian Ucles. “We knew when LULAC put together this program in Iowa, that they were ready to come out with a show of force for any candidate that supports the Latino community.”
~~~
Though exit polls show Hillary Clinton winning 58% of the minority vote, Ucles said he is going to further analyze county returns, because Sen. Bernie Sanders won 15 of the largest 20 counties where Latinos live, suggesting they may have played a role in the razor-thin Clinton victory, which because of delegate allocation, Sanders billed as a virtual tie.



http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/01/3744644/latino-voters-iowa-caucuses/

Henry [LULAC’s vice president for the midwest] says he has good reason to expect at least 10,000 voters on Monday.
For one, there are just more Latino voters overall in the state. In 2008, he said, his group had identified only 23,000 potential voters. In 2012, they were up to 35,000. This year, LULAC has identified more than 50,000 Latino voters across Iowa, and all of them have received either direct mailings, robocalls, or live calls imploring them to go out and caucus.

The second reason is that Iowa’s growing Latino population is overwhelmingly young and politically engaged. Over 60 percent of Iowa’s registered Latino voters are under the age of 40, Henry said, and the median age is only 22.
~~~
Not only were many Latinos at Sunday’s mock caucus first-time voters, the vast majority were Bernie Sanders supporters. The room was a sea of Sanders shirts and signs, speckled by with only sporadic stickers for Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. There was no visible support for any Republican presidential candidate.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), a Latino congressman who travelled to Iowa to support Bernie Sanders, told ThinkProgress that he believed Sanders would be the main beneficiary of increased Latino turnout. He said Sanders’ wide-ranging messaging on issues like climate change, income inequality, and healthcare — not just immigration — would be what drives Latinos to caucus for him on Monday.




Very interested to see what the analysis by Ucles shows, especially given the young age of Iowa Latino voters and the stumping done by Grijalva and Garcia for Sanders there.

[demosincebirth]

1. I didn't think there were any Latinos in Iowa. I know of one that went because of his job. He much

rather have stayed in sunny Ca.

[suffragette]

2. From what I have read, they are a small minority there

But with strong outreach, they showed up in much greater numbers than previously.
That is good news, in itself.
What I'm wondering, given what LULAC leaders there have been saying, is if Bernie's message resonated with them and they caucused for him. It looks like that may have been the case and I find that very encouraging.