Día de los Muertos: There's an app for that!

While many are still trying to figure out what to dress up as for Halloween, many Hispanics are preparing for Día de los Muertos or "Day of the Dead." (Read a previous post about what is Día de los Muertos)

Now, there is "Day of the Dead Me" photo booth app available on iTunes. 

Feel free to share any pictures with me from the app.

First-Ever Poll of Registered Latino Voters in Connecticut Reveals Latinos Are Untapped, Potential Swing Vote in Tight Senatorial Race

A recent poll conductedby Pulso shows that while Connecticut registered Latino voters are clear that Barack Obama should get another term as president by an 81 percent to 6 percent margin over Mitt Romney, they are heavily undecided in the senatorial race with 56 percent not able to name a candidate without being prompted.

Even when prompted, 50 percent of Latino registered voters in Connecticut remain undecided in the tight senatorial race between Chris Murphy (D) and Linda McMahon (R).  Latino voters who could name the senatorial candidates revealed a virtual dead heat with 19 percent favoring Murphy and 16 percent McMahon.

Low name recognition and a large undecided voting block are at least partly due to lack of attention to Latino voters by the candidates as 51 percent of Connecticut Latino voters say they have not directly received any campaign information from any candidate. Of those who did, 38 percent received information about Obama, 10 percent about Romney, 25 percent about McMahon and 21 percent about Murphy. 

Nearly 51 percent of Connecticut’s 176,735 Latino voters are registered Democrats, 40.45 percent are independent or third-party and just 8 percent are Republican, according to the Connecticut Secretary of State’s Office.  About 50 percent of these registered voters (88,182) reside in Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven and New Britain.

The issues most important to Connecticut Latino voters include financial concerns such as jobs, the economy, healthcare/insurance and energy/oil/gas prices, and education. Almost 8 of 10 (78 percent) of voters rated these issues a ten on a zero-10 scale.

Latino voters generally feel they are better off now than four years ago, with 37 percent saying they feel they are better off while 21 percent feel they are worse off.  Young voters 18-34 are less positive than older voters (23 percent are better off).  Those with lower income are less positive (26 percent are better off).

The poll was conducted by Pulso, New England’s only national, full-service polling and market research consultancy specializing in Latino markets. The Pulso Poll of 100 Connecticut Latino voters was conducted by phone from October 9^th - 11^th; which was after the first Presidential and Senatorial debates.  67 percent of interviews were conducted in Spanish as the preferred language.

Record number of Latinos registered to vote, but not credibly courted

The Pew Hispanic Center report indicated 23.7 million Latinos are eligible to vote November 6, an increase of 22% since 2008, and the most than at any other time in U.S. history.

A report on CNN.com outlines that despite the high registration rate, there is a concern voter turn out will remain low. According to the article, only 50 percent of Latino registered voters turned out in the 2008 election. The two main reasons that Pew suggests are reduced enthusiasm for a non-presidential election, and an economic downturn that has displaced many Latinos (and subsequently caused their voter registration to lapse).

I would like to add a third: lack of credible outreach by candidates. While the presidential candidates are spending money to try to court the Hispanic vote in battleground states like Florida, the percentage of money allocated to that effort is abysmal.  The lack of attention Latino voters receive and lack of focus of issues that are important to Latinos and positioned from a Latino-perspective I believe results in voter apathy and a lack of name awareness of candidates at many levels.

Looking at places where there is a high Puerto Rican population helps to illustrate my case.  Voting rates for Puerto Ricans on the island are over 80 percent,  That rate but drop off considerably to 57 percent for Puerto Ricans in the United States.

And, despite the record number of advertising dollars being used in the 2012 election, The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce issued a release in early October on a study it commissioned that found only 4.57% of the advertising dollars were spent on Spanish-language media.

As Javier Palomarez , President and CEO of the USHCC said in their press release, "Political commentators from both sides of the aisle have said repeatedly that 2012 is the 'year of the Hispanic voter.' And, in fact, Hispanic voters are poised to play a decisive role in some of the most hotly contested battleground states from Nevada to Florida. But you wouldn't know it from the advertising of our political parties. Thus far in 2012, both parties seem to be spending comparatively little trying to reach Hispanic voters on the media platforms they prefer. The difference between rhetoric and action is striking and, frankly, troubling."

Top issues for Hispanics in the 2012 election

Despite the attention migration receives in the media and in many forums, the issue is not in the top 5 among Hispanic registered voters.  

Here is a list of the top issues among Hispanic voters and as well as all Hispanics who rated an issue "extremely important," according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Like most Americans in this election cycle, Hispanics rate jobs as the most important topic followed by education, health care, taxes and the federal budget deficit.  Immigration is 6th.