Rising Hispanic Population Could Change Face Of GOP

It’s not the tea party that will change the Republican Party if wants to be viable. It will be how the party reacts to that growing Hispanic population, which has doubled since the last census to 16%. First Read notes:

Obama won Latinos 67%-31% in 2008, and they made up just 9% of the electorate. In the 2010 exit polls, when Republicans swept Democrats out of the U.S. House, Hispanics still preferred Democrats by a similar 64%-34% margin. And they made up just 8% of the electorate. In fact, look at the states out West with large Hispanic populations and how Democrats performed out West vs. the Midwest. In states with high Hispanic populations, Democrats were able to keep their losses to a minimum, holding on to Senate seats in Colorado and Nevada, keeping California fairly blue and holding on to House seats in Arizona they should have lost. As one Republican operative said to us in April 2010: “We have problems, clearly, with Hispanics,” the operative said. “If we do not manage an immigration bill appropriately, and we alienate Hispanics, Obama’s going to run up his numbers in the 70s [with Hispanics]. That is not a sustainable model to win.”

Ben Smith predicts:

There’s no way the Republican nominee doesn’t take a very, very hard look at Marco Rubio (pictured, r), Susana Martinez (l), and perhaps Jeb Bush as running mates in the hopes of at least narrowing the gap.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.