According to a recent Pew Research Center study, Latino millennials comprise the majority of eligible Latino voters at 44 percent. In addition to being the largest group among its own race, Latino millennials also make up the largest eligible voting block out of all races and generations. But despite potentially having such a great influence on the election, many of the projected 27.3 million Latino voters especially the millennials will likely not go out to the polls, based on past voting trends.
In 2012, only 48 percent of eligible Latino voters actually voted. This stacks up poorly with other groups (not including Asians, who only saw 46.9 percent of their eligible voters cast a ballot and statistically tend to vote at even lesser rates than Hispanics): that year, 64.1 percent of eligible white voters went to the polls, as did 66.6 percent of Blacks.
A reason Latino voters do not have as much of an impact as they statistically could is location. Areas with high Latino populations are generally not the same areas that presidential candidates emphasize in their campaigns. “In presidential elections, candidates often focus their outreach efforts in [key battleground] states, raising the chances that a voter may be contacted and possibly turn out to vote,” the report explains. “For example, the Latino-rich states of California, Texas and New York are not likely to be presidential tossup states. Together, these three account for 52% of all Latino eligible voters in 2016.” If a state is not a swing state, not only will candidates not focus on encouraging voters in these states to cast a ballot but citizens, assuming their vote will not make a difference, may be less likely to go out and vote.
