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Latinos Aren't Afraid of Voting for Blacks

12:11 H | Topics: Politics - Race - US Presidential Race 2008

There's been alot of hype, pundits pondering, and bloggers blogging about the if Latinos will vote black, more specifically if they will vote for Barack Obama. Without repeating the fact that, many Latinos are black (damn I repeated it anyway), one political scientist took a look at how Latinos voted when it came to other black candidates.

University of Washington political scientist Matt Barreto has compiled a list of black big-city mayors who have received broad Latino support over the last several decades. In 1983, Harold Washington pulled 80% of the Latino vote in Chicago. David Dinkins won 73% in New York in 1989. And Denver's Wellington Webb garnered more than 70% in 1991, as did Ron Kirk in Dallas in 1995 and then again in 1997 and 1999.

The fact that the divide and conquer politics hasn't always translated in the polls, doesn't mean that it won't. All this talk about black vs. Latino may happen because so many people keep saying it will happen, a self-fulfilling prophecy if you will.

Are Latinos really that stupid, that we need all this outside talk to help us to decide who to vote for, as opposed to paying attention to um, I don't know issues? Also, it's interesting to note that this debate isn't played out all that much in the Spanish language media.

Via / Daily Kos

Image Via / Brown Pride

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