Political

Jose Dante Para is the CEO of Prospero Latino. He’s a Democratic strategist and was a senior advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. As the opening keynote speaker at the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference, Tuesday, Para told attendees political candidates need to use radio and, he said, the R.O.I. candidates get from radio is huge.

It’s no secret that when it comes to politics, passions run high—among the candidates, as well as the potential constituents themselves! And this year’s election cycle so far has been especially heated, with ardor amped up and political intrigue at what seems like all-time highs.

Most Hispanics say speaking Spanish not necessary to be considered HispanicRubio’s confrontation with Cruz, who recently became the first Hispanic to win the Iowa caucuses, was interpreted by some as a challenge to how much Cruz belongs to or identifies with the Hispanic community in the U.S. (It’s worth noting that this is not a new tactic. Hispanic Democrats have been confronted before by fellow Latinos in a similar way.)

Television is the most effective political ad format influencing voting behavior across all generations, according to a January 2016 survey. Print ads also influence behavior.

The U.S. electorate this year will be the country’s most racially and ethnically diverse ever. Nearly one-in-three eligible voters on Election Day (31%) will be Hispanic, black, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority, up from 29% in 2012. Much of this change is due to strong growth among Hispanic eligible voters, in particular U.S.-born youth.

This study presents precise data on  the Latino electorate, registered  voters, and actual voters in  presidential elections between 1992 and 2012 with projections to 2016.

Digital media has reached parity with TV as a primary information source about presidential candidates (61% for both digital and TV) and political issues (67% for digital vs. 69% for TV) among registered U.S. voters, according to “The Race for the White House 2016: Registered Voters and Media and Information During the Primaries,” a new research study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The large footprint of Latino millennial eligible voters reflects the oversized importance of youth in the U.S.-born Latino population and as a source of Latino eligible voter growth.

Univision Communications Inc. in partnership with preeminent political research firms David Binder Research and Moore Information, released the findings of a study on the Hispanic voter profile that confirm that the Hispanic vote in the 2016 election season is up for grabs. Directly contradicting the common assumption that Hispanics always vote Democrat, the study found that 55% of Hispanic registered voters age 25-54 are persuadable and in fact, frequently cross party lines.

Surveys from a variety of sources demonstrate that Latino voters will be critical to the outcome of the next U.S. Presidential election, as well as many other races. For this essential bloc of voters, it’s mobile advertising that gets the message across.

Local TV stations around the country are looking forward to a banner year in 2016, when spending on political advertising is expected to soar. As a big fan of political commercials, I say: Bring ’em on.

Political advertising is forecast to hit a record $11.4 billion in 2016, 20% more than the last comparable Presidential Election year of 2012. Adding what will be spent on next year’s contests in 2015, political advertising still holds a whopping $16.5 billion. See what the forecast looks like 2016 and beyond.

Across the board voter turnout was down in 2014. In 2010 about 91 million votes were cast and turnout among the voting eligible population was 41.8 percent. Four years later only 81 million peopled voted for a turnout rate of 35.9 percent according to data collected by Professor Michael McDonald. Looking at Democratic losses in states such as Colorado, Florida and Illinois, some observers questioned whether Latino turnout in particular was even lower. While not all 50 states have data available on official validated vote in 2014 yet, most states have now reported vote history and we can assess what happened in the 2014 midterms.  By Matt Barreto

Before the midterm elections, the spotlight understandably is focused on the estimated 40% of voting age adults who are expected to show up at the polls next Tuesday. There has been less attention on the much larger share who most probably will not.

Cell phones and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are playing an increasingly prominent role in how voters get political information and follow election news, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center.

A Record Number of Latinos are Eligible to Vote … But Latinos are a Small Share of Eligible Voters in Key 2014 Races

Programmatic buying is dominating political ad spending this year as 85% of agencies plan to use programmatic for their media buying efforts. That is a key finding of a recent STRATA political survey of leading advertising agencies representing approximately 75% of total political advertising billings.

Heading into the 2014 elections, much of the conventional wisdom suggests that Latino voters are unlikely to affect outcomes. Most notably, except for Colorado, there are no competitive U.S. Senate races where Latino voters are positioned to be influential.  By David Damore / Latino Decisions

Amid the current debate on immigration reform, much attention is on House members and how their vote for or against reform will play in their home districts.  But many congressional districts have a huge number of naturalized immigrants and young Asians and Latinos who are entering the electorate, and who deeply support immigration reform.