New York will account for almost one million of the 13.1 million registered Latino voters in November’s election. The National Association of Latino Appointed and Elected Officials (NALEO) expects an increase by 14 percent since 2012 with about 955,500 Latino voters hitting the poles in 2016 in the Empire State.
The real question will be who will voters favor more leading up to the election, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton? The Empire State typically swings left, with almost 70 percent of the base voting Democrat and those numbers are pretty safe considering Ted Cruz and Donald Trump‘s immigration policies won’t be popular amount Latinos.
In fact naturalization applications have jumped by 14 percent in 2015 and according to federal reports could jump as high as one million applicants by the end of 2016. Of course naturalization always peaks during election years but experts say Trump’s policies, to build a wall between our southern neighbor and vows to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, have helped to catapult those figures.
That point was apparent Thursday [April 14] when protesters rallied outside the GOP’s Gala in Manhattan, while Sanders and Clinton faced off on the debate stage in Brooklyn. The tension is high as the state edges closer to the primaries that Latino voters are sure to play a significant role in.
