Latinos Role in National Politics

With the reapportionment changes recently released by the 2010 U.S. Census, Latinos likely will play a larger role in national politics in the coming decade. Two states that gained seats, Florida and Nevada, have been key swing battlegrounds in recent presidential elections (having voted for the Republican nominee in 2004 and the Democrat in 2008). In both states, Latinos are a growing share of eligible voters.

The number of the Latinos eligible to vote continues to grow. Since 2000, nearly 6 million more Latinos have become eligible to vote. The bulk of this growth was attributable to the 5 million U.S. born Latino youths nationwide who turned 18 during this past decade. That translates into an additional half-million U.S. born Latinos coming of age each year-a pattern that is certain to persist, and grow, in the coming decades.

Source: The 2010 Congressional Reapportionment and Latinos

More Representatives, Better Business?

The news from the 2010 US Census is clear and impactful. The population is changing. According to this MSNBC report, for the first time in history California did not gain any seats in the House of Representatives and will maintain 53 seats, followed by Texas with 36 seats and New York and Florida with 27 seats each.

According to US Census Bureau data, six of the 16 states with a minimum of a half-million Hispanic residents have experienced positive population growth requiring additional seats in the House of Representatives. Eight cities with the top 20 Hispanic populations are within those six states, including Houston, Miami, Phoenix and Dallas. HispanicBusiness.com reports, “the average population size for congressional district is 710,767 people, up from 646,952 people in 2000.” Understanding the shift of the population southward and westward combined with the growth and revealing of the Hispanic population will positively affect a company’s identification of the Hispanic target market and their efforts to engage them.

Here are several guiding principles gleamed from the 2010 US Census reports and marketing industry best practices:

• The Hispanic population’s buying power is expected to surpass $1.2 trillion by 2011, according to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth. Ignoring this source of revenue is simply unwise. Moreover, this market tends to spend more of its total income so an expended marketing dollar can generate a higher ROI. Efforts should run parallel to those put forth for the general population. However, a knowledgeable marketer needs to recognize whether the market is Hispanic. Juan Job, VP of Hispanic Markets at New York Life says, “we define a market as Hispanic if 50% or more of its customers are Hispanic. We have associates exclusively devoted to the Hispanic market in the following units: New York (two), Fresno, CA, El Paso, TX, Mc Allen, TX, Edison, NJ, Miami, FL and San Antonio, TX.”
• Create media units with a message around core Hispanic values that toggle between English and Spanish. Core values such as family, religion, sports and gender roles all play an important part of the Hispanic psyche. Impacting that consciousness requires an understanding of how those values line up and differ across subcultures. U.S. Hispanics report interacting with content in English and Spanish. Integrated campaigns will respect the deep sense of Spanish price Hispanics have but honor their shifts in education, socioeconomic status and the population’s large youth sector.
• Get to know the distinction and stability of the market. Regional populations differ. Persons of Mexican origin dominate the market; Cuban populations are largest on the East coast and concentrated in Florida, New York and New Jersey. Unlike the rest of the Latino population, Cubans in the US tend to be older. Puerto Rican populations are largest in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Just as the Cuban market is affected by its unique welcome status under US immigration law, marketing to the Puerto Rican population is affected by their status as citizens and the ease of travel between the island and mainland. Creating an ad that appeals to all Hispanics would prove difficult; Mexicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans speak different dialects and have considerably different tastes. Differences in idiomatic expressions, food habits and political leanings that follow local and regional populations should be incorporated into the successful, culturally relevant campaign.

Over 20 Spanish-speaking nationalities are represented in the U.S., each with its own cultural characteristics, traditions and values. The unique characteristics of this growing and young population withstand and respond to different marketing techniques. The successful campaign will not be a simply adaptation of one aimed at the white European market and will take into account the subtleties, regional differences and core values of the sub-cultures.

Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40733820/ns/politics/
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/politics/2010/12/21/us_population_308745538.htm
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/

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2010 Census Data Population Change

See the just released interactive map widget that enables users to view the history of apportionment and our country’s changing population through the past century. The widget will be updated when the 2010 state counts are released on December 21, 2010.



Data provided by U.S. Census Bureau.

Population Density: Includes Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia in population density rankings, 1 to 52.

Apportionment: Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the 50 states. Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia are not included.

Alaska and Hawaii gained statehood in 1959. Arizona and New Mexico gained statehood in 1912. Data before those periods are not reflected on the map.

Congress did not reapportion in 1920. Therefore, the apportionment data shown for this decade replicates the data for 1910. There is no data reflected for the apportionment population in the 1920 "people per representative" chart.

The Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch to Create “Hispanic in the United States” 2010 Census

Planning on releasing presentation in Spring 2011 using the 2010 Census

I, Sebastian Aroca, recently asked the Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch Chief Roberto Ramirez, if the branch was going to put together another “Hispanic in the United States” presentation for this upcoming U.S. Census Bureau and if the answer was yes, when do they suspect the PP to be created/released.

Chief Roberto Ramirez responded that his branch is certainly planning to update the PP using the 2010 Census. This is great news!

He also said that the PPT will be out sometime in spring of 2011 for it takes about 6 months to process all the data from the census. Wow, I didn’t know it takes that long!

For more information about the Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch, you can contact the branch Chief Roberto Ramirez (roberto.r.ramirez@census.gov) or call the branch at 301.763.2403.

Download last “Hispanics in the United States” presentation

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