César Martínez (Expert on immigrant voting in the USA): "Anyone who wants to blame immigrants for the problems of a country, an autonomous region or a city runs the risk of defeat".
The electoral expert Cesar Martinez, a specialist in Latino vote and adviser to the U.S. Republican Party in the campaigns of 2000, 2004 and 2008, warned Saturday that the immigrant vote will be "decisive" in many municipalities in the upcoming municipal elections to be held on May 22, 2011. For the first time, they will be able to vote.
In statements to Europa Press, Martinez has emphasized that the new voter does not have the "strong influences" that traditionally existed and that led him to have a "certain preconception". "In Spain there is an electorate very identified with each party, either by family tradition, because people are inclined by their ideology, etc., but the new voter can see the parties more independently," he warned. This is the new Spanish, or the son of immigrants who, although born in Spain, live very closely the experience of immigrants. For many it will be the first time they vote and, like everything new, they may be 'consumers' who are looking at the options before deciding. What is clear is that the immigrant vote will be decisive in many municipalities in the country," he added.
According to Martínez, a member of Mas Consulting, a Madrid-based firm, parties that "make a good effort to communicate with the immigrant vote since the beginning of 2011 will certainly reap rewards"; however, those who do not "will not only lose votes but run the risk of losing (a whole) generation".
Cesar Martinez: "Hispanics have once again decided who will be the president of the United States.
At 4 a.m. local time, César Martínez was leaving the Reagan Center in Washington, exhausted. He arrived at the finish line after having fought "vote by vote" and won for his boss, George W. Bush, the White House. With barely four hours of sleep, and after the polite congratulations, he said he was satisfied "and the most interesting thing about it is that we got 42 percent of the Latino vote when the most optimistic predictions were 40 percent. Dick Morrison, who was an adviser to Bill Clinton, has just acknowledged that one of the big factors in the change with respect to his forecasts was precisely the very high Hispanic vote that went to the president, going from 37 percent last time to this 42 percent, and that represents 7 points more that you get and that you take away from the opponent. That's where the big difference in the whole nation lies. On the 18th, Martinez will come to Spain to participate in the III International Seminar on Political Communication organized in Madrid by George Washington University and MAS Consulting Group.
In the end, the American dream that Bush promised in his ads when he made him say "in this land we find opportunity" won out again.
The Democratic Party's advertising often portrays Latinos as a minority in need, in need of government assistance, and poor people who need help with social programs. However, the messages we put out are ones of optimism. "You are the one who is helping to grow this country, you are the one who is helping to move the nation forward. That makes a difference, it makes the voter say, "You're recognizing that I'm working for America, that I came here looking for an opportunity and I'm making it. It's very different to be treated as a depressed minority than it is to be treated as heroes who are helping to make all this happen. That's a fundamental difference. Also, when I was looking this morning at what moved Latinos to vote one way or the other, I saw that it was family values first, then the economy, and then, far behind, other issues. Bush has won the five key states for Hispanics. How do you feel the strength of this minority in the U.S. today?
With their high turnout, Hispanics have shown their strength. Today, the African-American vote is 9 to 1 in favor of the Democrats, but the Latino vote is one out of two and that's why it can tip the balance. Hispanics are already in the decision-making power of this country. Nine percent of the total electorate was Latino, and that speaks of a growing force. One out of every five children born in this country is Latino. There are 188 votes in the states where there are more Latinos and it takes 260 to win, so it is evident the weight of the Hispanic, which is growing, and the Democrats have to realize that because you are Hispanic and a minority you don't vote Democrat, but they need to make a conscientious effort.
Republican Mel Martinez has also won the hotly contested Florida Senate seat, making him the first Cuban-American to reach the upper chamber. They're on a roll.
Ken Salazar also won in Colorado, and although he is a Democrat, he is Latino. It's evidence of how much Hispanic strength is growing. There are more Hispanics in the US than Canadians in Canada, their purchasing power is among the three highest in the Hispanic world if it were a nation. This movement no longer stops, the dream of Simon Bolivar, the Ibero-American unification, is happening in this country. The engine that helps this country grow is the Latino force, in all aspects, even in baseball! Watching the World Series you would hear "Pedro Martínez pitcher", "José Cortés"... the best baseball players are Ibero-American.
You told me two months ago that the reason people turn to Bush and not Kerry is because they know Bush and don't know Kerry. Does this attitude respond to the adage that the devil you know is better than the devil you know?
Latinos are more about talking about family first and how we're doing, and then talking about business. We like to get to know the people we're going to deal with, and that's something Bush has seen very well. Before, the Republican party was anti-immigrant, tougher, all in English, and Bush turned the tables. I remember when Governor Pit Willson's proposition 187 in California wanted to take away the rights of immigrants and then Governor Bush said, "If someone is suffering, going through misery and risking his life to feed his family, he deserves all our respect". And as you say, the best time to plant an olive tree is 25 years ago. It's not much use three little words now in Spanish from Kerry, but what Bush has been doing for the last ten years.
We have just seen, for the second time, that the widespread assumption that Bush is a simple man does not matter to Americans.
In the end, people decide which of the proposals will suit them best in their day-to-day lives. Of course they are concerned about foreign policy, about terrorism.... But also about what taxes are going to be, where family values are placed. Women voted a lot, and married women, according to statistics, voted more for the president, while some more single women voted for the senator. That will have to be analysed.
USA tu poder' or how to mobilize the Hispanic vote in the United States
Every electoral campaign has a maxim: the mobilization of the vote. But when the system demands a prerequisite such as voter registration, such mobilization becomes a common good.
In this context, campaigns like the one launched last Tuesday by the U.S. group Mi Familia Vota. USA Tu Poder aims to mobilize the U.S. Hispanic electorate in the face of the 'mid terms', the elections that will take place on November 6 and that will define the control of Congress, a third of the Senate, elect 36 governors and many other positions at both local and state level.
The goal is to promote Hispanic registration in their places of residence to achieve a greater weight of this population segment in the U.S. electoral process. According to Latino Decisions, 60% of U.S. Hispanics (57 million) were born in the country and another 20% have citizenship; that is, 35.6 million potential voters who will only be if they register in advance.
This is how Mi Familia Vota, whose work has resulted in the registration of 100,000 voters in the last six months, understands the commitment of Mi Familia Vota. USA Tu Poder defines itself as a non-partisan campaign that does not seek to guide the vote; on the contrary, it seeks to mobilize the voter, to empower him or her.
Mi Familia Vota has the support of renowned Hispanic figures, such as journalist María Elena Salinas and actress Diane Guerrero, as well as the strategic advice of César Martínez, founder of MAS Consulting, who has worked on five U.S. presidential campaigns.
"When it comes to mid-term elections, Hispanics lag behind other groups of American voters in terms of showing up to vote, something that has to change," explains Martínez, who emphasises the duty of Hispanics to assume their responsibility as citizens: "This is also our country and we have the responsibility as citizens to be active players in the electoral processes at all levels of government, from city councils to Congress, because in the end it all comes down to this: 'He who votes is the one who has the power, who rules'".
César Martínez, President of MAS Consulting USA, awarded with a Reed Award, the Oscars of political communication
César Martín, president of MAS Consulting USA, has been awarded a Reed Award in the "best Grassroots Organization" category for his radio, television and digital campaign for Mi Familia Vota in the 2018 U.S. elections. The campaign was designed and produced by César Martínez in collaboration with Andrea de Anda and Alejandra Félix of Ojiva Consultants.
The Mi Familia Vota movement has conducted a series of Hispanic outreach activities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas, including voter workshops, voter registration drives and voter mobilization at all levels of government.
Specifically, the winning campaign in this edition of the Reed Awards was designed with the slogan "VoteNOTrumpadas" and was developed in both Spanish and English through television and radio ads. In addition, there were two digital campaigns starring journalist María Elena Salinas- "USA Tu Poder"-and actress Diane Guerrero, targeting millennial voters.
"The main message was to convince Hispanic voters that political power is in their votes, as long as they exercise that power," explained Cesar Martinez. As he noted, Mi Familia Vota launched an unprecedented campaign that resulted in the Hispanic vote increasing its influence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Texas.