Latino Voter Outreach That Energizes White Voters, Too 1

Ostfeld conducted a 2012 experiment with almost 600 white adults using a 30-second ad taken from the Obama campaign. Ostfeld found similar negative effects when Democratic candidates were described as “courting” Hispanic voters. In 2016, she showed white adults two versions of an online news headline. The race-silent version of the progressive message beat the pro- business message by a margin of 32 points. This result suggests that voters generally prefer progressive over pro-business economic policies. Democrats have long sensed that mobilizing non-white communities risks alienating white voters. Ostfeld’s research seems to confirm this risk. The threat comes from politicians and their billionaire backers who rig the system while seeking to divide us by demonizing Latino immigrants. And the call to action must clarify that building power for Latinos helps every racial group, whites included, because only a massive multi-racial progressive movement can get government back on the side of people rather than corporations.