The presidential campaigns on both the republican and democrat side head to the west this week to continue their respective campaign trails, with all three major candidates setting their sights on the big prize; California, a state which awards 172 delegates on the republican side and 548 delegates to democrats, making it the largest remaining delegate reward of the primary season.
On June 7th, California’s voting could drastically shift the tide of the democrat party, either cementing Hillary’s claims that “I AM the nominee,” or providing further evidence for Bernie Sanders to prove a case at the convention in Philadelphia that, despite losing the overall popular vote, he is still the better contender against Trump, as poll after poll showing head-to-head match-ups between democrat and republican contestants has confirmed. Donald Trump, who is running unopposed in his race, would officially trade titles from presumptive nominee to just nominee, picking up all 1237 delegates he would have originally needed for a majority win. Be that as it may, this primary is still very crucial for Trump and the republicans, as it could show their current standing with Latinos and if they’ll be able to pick up much needed Latino votes for the general.
After consecutive presidential losses in both ’08 and 2012, republican strategists realized their party can no longer survive and thrive in the White House based purely off of older, white male voters. The autopsy further showed that without clinching a sizable portion of Latino voters the party was doomed to never win the White House again, due to the shifting demographics in the country (stats showing that Whites may not be the majority by 2050, and Latinos already passing Blacks to become the most populated minority in the country). This mixes with the sense among minorities that republicans don’t generally care for their needs to a perfect storm against the republicans.
How then did executing this pro-Latino strategy lead to Donald Trump, who is arguably the second most fearful character to Latinos, second only to Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, infamous amongst Latinos and Mexicans for very staunch, anti-immigrant, anti-MEXICAN immigrant policies, and who has endorsed, wait for it, Donald Trump. This endorsement, matched with the obvious Mexican rapists statement, all the I’m gonna build-a-wall talk, and in my best South Park blue-collar worker impression, “they took our jobs,” rhetoric makes it seem like the republican voters weren’t as ready as their establishment and donor counterparts to fully open the GOP door to Latinos, and as Trump heads into strong Latino territory like California, Puerto Rico, and New Mexico in the upcoming weeks we probably might maybe see Trump tune down the anti-Latino talking points, however given that was one of his main appeals in the first place, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
So what is the strategy the republicans plan to use to win the White House. Originally it was obvious, throw all our money behind Jeb Bush and his Spanish wife should be able to change the image of the party. Voters weren’t having that however. Trump, though not counting out any state, is competing harder in blue-collar Midwestern states, most likely banking on over-securing the blue-collar White vote. One thing’s for sure, as of right now Hillary is killing Trump among minorities and unless The Donald does one of his famous about-faces like he has with his releasing his tax returns, on his position on guns, position on abortion, position on Hillary herself (with his giving his approval of Hillary’s qualifications and political record in the past), he better have some hypnotic magic trick up his sleeve, because right now his chances with minorities and especially Latinos are no bueno.
Featured Image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore
