October 18, 2004
Monday Memorandum
* More on the up-for-grabs Hispanic vote in Florida in yesterday's New York Times article "Hispanic Vote in Florida: Neither a Bloc Nor A Lock." Kerry may have a pretty commanding lead among the Hispanic electorate nationally, but he's behind Bush in this all-too-important battleground state:
- Both parties believe Mr. Bush will win the majority of Hispanic votes in Florida, if only because the Cuban population remains so large - about 450,000 registered voters, compared with about 200,000 for the second-biggest group, Puerto Ricans. But Democratic strategists say their party is pushing for Mr. Kerry to win perhaps 40 percent of the Hispanic vote, potentially a big enough increase over the roughly 34 percent that Al Gore claimed in 2000 to assure a Democratic victory here.
* Here's a report you'll probably be hearing wonky types yammer about when the horserace talk turns to Bush's economic record. The latest study released by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that minorities -- Blacks and Hispanics in particular -- have not weathered the economic recession nearly as well as their white counterparts (duh!). The study rightly points to a lack of financial assets -- considerably more so than income -- as the chief culprit for the economic disparities. Press release is here. Possibly more on this later...
* Finally, I'm a little late in commenting on this but... a few weeks back NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy school released the results from a fairly substantial 1,900 person poll tackling the hot potato subject of immigration. Hey, if neither Presidential candidate is going to address this issue (save for a single question from the third debate), someone should push the envelope, right? The results? Negative attitudes toward immigration persist! Non-immigrants are concerned about illegal immigration! Immigrants think conditions in U.S. are better than home country! Did they really need a study to tell us this stuff?