Reading the political opinion pieces it's easy to conclude that to the strategists we are all just a number within some voting bloc. And one we've been hearing a lot about lately is the Latino bloc and how Latinos should fit comfortably within the Republican Party "because they have strong families, a great work ethic, are more religious than most Americans, and are conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage."
That quote is from an article by Charles Murray who pokes a big hole in the theory. See The GOP shouldn’t count on tapping latent Latino conservatism. From a review of the surveys, he concludes:
Latinos aren’t married more than everyone else. ...
Latinos aren’t more religious than everyone else. ...
Latinos aren’t more opposed to gay marriage than everyone else. ...
Latinos are a little more opposed to abortion than everyone else, but not by a landslide. ...
Latinos aren’t more conservative than everyone else. ...
Latino men are only fractionally more likely to be in the labor force than everyone else, and those with jobs work slightly fewer hours. ...
Latino women are substantially less likely to be in the labor force than everyone else. ...
All the more reason for Republicans to dump the social issues and concentrate on getting the message out about the need for fiscal conservatism.
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