The Latino Voter Base is Booming: Why You Should Care

Holding A Goldfish’s Attention

Digital technology has changed politics. You can no longer look at one without the other, and while that may be for better or for worse, candidates across the nation are seeking digital experts for the competitive edge needed amidst close elections.
For our political team, that means studying news media trends, navigating digital platforms, and analyzing demographic data to push content that mobilizes voters with the right message at the right time. And while digital technology has allowed political campaigns to access a plethora of voter data, campaign success relies on figuring out how best to cut through the information overload, access echo chambers, and grab voters’ attention. With our attention span becoming shorter than that of a goldfish’s, seeking and capturing the American voters’ attention long enough to care about an issue is no easy feat. Fortunately for our candidates, Push Digital always stays one step ahead.
Tapping Into the Latino Vote

Fun fact: Every 30 seconds, a Latino becomes eligible to vote

Resourcefulness and adaptation. To survive the ever-changing political landscape in today’s digital era, you need both of these skills. As a Colombian-born millennial working for Push Digital’s political team, I am a direct manifestation of one of the many evolutions seen throughout recent American elections — a rising Latino voter population.
As of 2016, more than 27.3 million Latino voters were eligible to vote, and that number has been continually growing since. In fact, estimates show that by 2050, the Latino population will rise to 133 million.
But here’s the thing, the rate of eligible Latino voters is increasing faster than the number of Latino voters from our previous presidential elections. In other words, while the Latino voter base is growing, actual turnout pales in comparison.
Bridging the Gap Between Voter and Ballot

While knowledge of the rising Latino voter population in the U.S. is nothing new, it’s more pertinent to campaign success than ever before. Now the largest ethnic minority in the country, this group’s influence over the political agenda is far-reaching. Safe to say, appealing to this demographic is the golden ticket to winning elections, and to do that, we must do the following:
Dispel Myths

Even though Latinos have historically leaned left of the ideological spectrum, we saw a surprising, and quite unexpected change within the GOP voter base, as Latinos made up roughly 29% of the Trump voter electoral base in 2016. Continuing polarization among parties will allow further capitalization of this change, and Republican political campaigns especially will need to adapt digital strategies to reach a more ethnically diverse voter base.
Methodology

The largest percentage of eligible Latino voters are millennials. Which is great, because they have a higher tendency to be digitally inclined, bilingual, and aspirational. So how can campaigns target this group to increase voter turnout, especially within battleground states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio? According to surveys, young voters within this demographic are ambivalent over casting a vote, simply because they feel it won’t make a difference… Oh the irony. To mobilize young Latino voters, the effort must be put in regardless of the risk. At Push Digital, clients are coming to us to reach this demographic because they know it’s in their campaign’s best interest.
Curated Content

There are many challenges that come with connecting to an ethnically diverse voter population. For one, candidates may face backlash from voters who only speak the English language. Studies show English-speaking voters’ attitudes over seeing Spanish-language political ads to be extremely negative. Likewise, not every Latino population is the same and should be advertised the same content, even within the message matrix. This is particularly true when it comes to different dialects of Spanish speakers. In order to effectively communicate political messages among Latino voters — content needs to be curated in accordance with language, dialect, age, and country of origin. It’s important to keep these items in mind when developing your message and digital targeting.
Have I lost you yet?

There’s a reason a large source of the Latino Voter population remains untapped — it’s gruesome work. Mitigating between the digital space, political arena, and rising diversity among the U.S. voter population is tricky terrain. But someone’s gotta do it, and here at Push Digital, we aren’t afraid of a little challenge