Hispanic voters are a crucial constituency in the presidential election, but reaching young Hispanics will require new tactics – and some experts say mobile-phone outreach will be key.
There are more than 21 million eligible Hispanic voters – and more than 30 percent of them are 18 to 30 years old. About 50,000 Hispanics reach the voting age of 18 each month.
But Hispanic voters under 30 have the lowest turnout of any group: Only 41 percent of them voted in 2008.
Young voters and Hispanic voters are far more likely to use their phones to go online than older generations are, so campaigns that use mobile technology are most likely to reach young Hispanics, according to Peter Levine, the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
That’s because a mobile phone and an app are personalized and engaging – a far cry from a robocall or a TV ad. Young voters are deeply skeptical of one-for-all marketing and respond best to one-on-one, Hispanic-to-Hispanic marketing, according to research by Levine’s group.
It’s “particularly effective in overcoming issues of trust and motivation that would otherwise be in the way of voting,” Levine said.
Alex Velasco, a 26-year-old first-generation Mexican-American, said Levine’s assessments were right on.
“It’s really easy to reach me on my phone because I have it with me all the time – when I’m on the train, when I’m walking,” Velasco said. “If you send me something political (on my phone), I would be way more likely to read it because it is so easy.” READ MORE
Comments