Hispanics - the “Sleeping Giant of American Politics”
By Natalie Finn
Salam Al-Marayati
|
Neither religion nor economic status is a sure predictor of where the unpredictable, volatile Hispanic voting block will go, said Gaston Espinosa, an assistant professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College.
Part of a panel moderated by Los Angeles Times writer Teresa Watanabe, Espinosa and three other panelists discussed the political leanings of blacks, Hispanics and Muslims and how those beliefs will impact the 2004 presidential election at a Western Knight Center seminar.
Espinosa called the Latino vote the “sleeping giant of American politics,” citing statistics that showed 58% of nearly 3,000 Latino adults nationwide said they had an interest in public affairs.
“They want to know, ‘How can I get involved?’ ‘How can I make a difference?’” he said.
Espinosa presented studies about U.S. Hispanic residents and how their religious affiliations relate to their political community.
Among the findings, he cited a study of the influence of Hispanic churches on politics reported that 93 percent of Latinos self-identified as Christians, with 25 million people, or 70%, being Catholic and 8.1 million, or 23 percent claiming they are Protestant or Other. While these Christian religions tend to suggest a more conservative constituency, Latino votes could not be predicted solely on the basis of socially conservative beliefs.
President Bush and John Kerry should be more assertive about their faith to better appeal to Latino voters, Espinosa said, noting 75 percent of Latino voters said they find a political candidate’s faith or morals very relevant.
Espinosa emphasized that a conservative religion did not equal a vote for President Bush in 2004. “There are stereotypes,” he said. “Latinos are morally and socially conservative, but politically and economically liberal.”
In a recent survey, 49 percent of Latinos identified themselves as Democrats, 14 percent as Republicans and 37 percent as Independent. In 1996, 81 percent of Latino voters chose Bill Clinton and only 14 percent voted for Bob Dole. In 2000, 49 percent voted for Al Gore and 30 percent for Bush. Clearly, the gap is shrinking, he said.
“The Latino community represents a potential voting bonanza,” Espinosa said, “if they can be mobilized and if they actually go out to vote.” To win the Latino vote, he said, you need new voters in every election cycle and you need to address their concerns in each election or they might move to the other side.
Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said American Muslims constitute a highly mobile community that is putting their dollars into political campaigns.
Muslims are average in terms of income and above-average in terms of education, Al-Marayati said, and they are contributing heavily at the congressional and senate level, as well as the presidential race.
Muslims are well-read in terms of politics and world history, he said, adding as many as two-thirds of the members of the Muslim community is registered to vote.
The political backlash against Muslims has created more cohesiveness within the community, Al-Marayati explained, adding the more religiously conservative groups have coordinated and consolidated.
Four organizations came together to create the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council: the Arab-Muslim Alliance, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the now-defunct American Muslim Council. Together they have established criteria to inform their candidate endorsement decisions, he said.
“You’d think it would have been a cinch for the Gore campaign, but he did not make any promises to us whatsoever,” Al-Maryati said. “But George Bush did meet with American Muslims at least three times before the elections… I think most polls would indicate that Muslim immigrant communities did vote for Bush.”
Intrinsic support for Kerry at the moment is up to 70%, polls suggest. But “the clock is ticking on the Kerry campaign,” Al-Marayati said, “and he could very well lose that support like Gore. He has not met with American Muslims or spoken succinctly and forcefully on the issues we care about: civil rights, what’s happening in our society, and access. We have Muslims who contribute, Muslims who vote, Muslims who are involved in every aspect of American life. We just want them to be represented.”
Al-Marayati stressed that U.S. policy has an impact on political representation - the “Muslim taboo” tells politicians it’s best not to get too close to the Muslim community because “you’ll always be accused of sympathizing with the enemy.”
“This thing about taking money from the Saudis and that means you’re an extremist - it just doesn’t register,” he said. “We reject using Islam as an instrument of political change, and that should be very clear.”
Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago, discussed the church as a source of political influence for blacks and how the resulting “African-American religiosity” affects their vote.
In contemporary politics, “if you’re a presidential or a senatorial candidate and want to talk to black folks, they show up in church.” Harris-Lacewell said. “The church is a place that works… turning opinions into action.”
President Bush’s Christian rhetoric may act as a wedge between voters and Kerry, who although they do not care for Bush, may choose to just stay home rather than vote for a Democrat who isn’t as “for Jesus” as the Republican candidate, she said.
Harris-Lacewell explained how the black church has acted as a jumping-off point for political involvement. The church has played a historical role in the development of organizational and psychological political resources. She elaborated that church has been a place to learn organizational skills that can be deployed in the political realm.
The psychological resources developed in church include self-esteem, internal efficacy and a felt connection to God - things that matter in politics. “Feeling alienated keeps you out of it,” Harris-Lacewell said. “Notions of African Americans as reasonable, smart, informed, interesting, efficacious people get nurtured first in the church.”
Traditionally the most religious segment of the U.S. population after Latinos, African Americans are most likely to say they believe in God and that religion guides them in their daily lives, according to Harris-Lacewell. In a political context, African American religiosity has an intertwined prophetic social gospel and a private conservative morality.
Basically, in public life, black people are likely to promote freedom, equality and the expansion of rights; while privately, they have more socially conservative views. For instance, they would tend to be against abortion and gay marriage.
|
