Millions of U.S.-born Latinos have turned 18 between the 2014 midterms and this year’s election, fueling a growth spike in the Latino electorate — and both political parties are taking notice, NBC News reported.
According to the Pew Research Center, a high of 29.1 million Latinos are eligible to vote in next month’s elections — about 13 percent of the electorate. An additional 4 million Hispanics became eligible to vote since 2014.
"Party committees and groups that make hard choices about where to spend limited resources need to make the right investments," Cristóbal Alex, president of the Latino Victory Fund, which encourages Hispanics to run for election — and vote — told the news outlet.
"When the path to victory depends on the Latino vote, making the real investment to fully engage the community — like you would a swing voter segment — is absolutely critical.”
But eligible voters don’t always show up on Election Day, and Latino voter turnout has been on the decline since 2006, hitting a new low in 2014 of 27 percent compared with 45.8 for white voters, NBC News reported.
NBC News reported the decline of Latino voter turnout has widened a gap from a difference of 17.4 percentage points in 2010 to an 18.8 point difference in 2014.
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