Gallup: More Latino Republicans in Texas

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

I’ve noticed this trend for a while. And I was wondering when someone would do a poll to test it. It turns out I wasn’t imagining things – more Latinos in Texas are becoming Republican.

First, an explanation. I was reared on the Texas border with Mexico, lived on both sides of the imaginary national demarcation line; both times within walking distance from the Rio Grande. My deductions have been honed by curiosity and years of observation. For several years now I’ve noticed how my childhood hometown has been skewing politically right. It hasn’t become a bastion of conservatism in a bright red state, but it has changed in the past decade or so. I hear more and more of my fellow Tejanos identify with the GOP.

At first I would try to be still to hear the sound of my mother protesting from her grave – she was the ultimate liberal, a  staunch feminist, a front-line leader in LBJ’s war on poverty. Then I’d realize that she’d probably acknowledge the trend. You hear it in conversations: not the oppose-Obama-for-the-mere-fact-that-he-exists, right wing nut conservative, but an opposition nonetheless. And you hear it not from mainstream, random, Latinos on the street. You hear it mostly from voting Latinos.

Again, this is not a fatal, end of the political world kind of trend. It’s a growing gap. According to a recent Gallup poll, since 2008 the number of Texas Latinos that prefer the Republican Party has grown to 27 percent. Across the country that number is 21 percent.

I’d like to see Gallup do a Latino identity poll in Texas. My guess is that those Latinos that trend GOP are also Latinos who see themselves primarily as Texan, before Latino, or Chicano, or Mexican – they’re multi-generational, wealthy, rural, they probably follow many of the same demographic determinants as most other Texas Republicans. And this seems to be a Texas phenomenon. Latinos have been in these parts for many generations, since before this was a part of the U.S. It wasn’t too long ago that Texas was a staunchly Democratic state – conservative, but Democrat. As it’s changed in political hue, some of that color seems to have rubbed-of on some of the Latinos in the Texan midst. The independent spirit, the boot-strap myth, he distrust of government … and gerrymandering, have solidified the GOP hold on Texas.

This is in stark contrast to the idea that Texas is losing it’s Republican edge and will sooner or later turn blue. This year we have the first Latina candidate for Lt. Governor, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who has stirred the energy of Texas Latinos and Democrats alike. Even many Texas Republicans think that their state will turn blue by the fate of demography.

What’s curious about this poll is that many of the active, participating Texas Latino Republicans I know have become disenchanted with the party. They’re repelled by the anti-immigrant stance, by what they call a false Latino outreach. They’re heavily critical of the state and national Republican leadership for what they call mere lip-service toward Latinos. Somewhere between the Gallop poll and the vocal, disgruntled Texas Latino GOPers, somewhere between the Bush friendly Latinos and the Ted Cruz Tea Party Latinos (yes, they do exist) lies the truth.

I don’t know if this latest Gallop poll is a “not so fast” road sign, or a momentary thing with an expected correction down the road. Gallop has staked it’s reputation on these numbers, and my gun-toting, liberty-loving Latino Texan friends back home back the numbers up.

If nothing else, it makes this political season more interesting.