Republican leaders are organizing their party and speakers to become more knowledgeable in communication with Latino audiences and are arranging more appearances in Spanish-speaking outlets.
“We’ve been absent from the conversation with Hispanic media for so long, anything can set back that progress we’ve made in the last eight months, so we are aggressive, just like we are in mainstream media,” said Nate Hodson, Spokesman for the House Republican Conference.
The effort to push for more outreach to Latino audiences is due to the increase of popularity with Spanish-speaking networks, like Univision. And with Latinos making a huge impact in the previous election, Republicans are looking to take advantage of the demographic.
“Three-quarters of Hispanics say that the [Republican Party] doesn’t represent their perspective and in many ways they feel ignored and antagonized,” said Fernand Amandi, Managing Partner of Bendixen & Amandi International. “Until they can address that problem…it’s going to be difficult for them to seduce Hispanics on other subjects.”
Republican leaders know that immigration is a popular topic when speaking on Spanish-language networks, but they want to appear on more networks and speak on issues, such as budget cuts, health care and the economy, that can draw more Latino support.
“We as Republicans need to expand our portfolio; we cannot simply talk to conservative news outlets or AM radio,” said Florida Republican Rep. Trey Radel. “We need to expand beyond that and when we do, I think it resonates.”
“It’s been refreshing for them to reach out,” said Fernando Pizarro, a Washington Correspondent for Univision. “Republicans have tried to do this in the past, but we were getting pretty much our old, regular Republican Latino regulars. They’re going beyond the usual suspects…and they’re being persistent.”
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