Politics and advertising for Latino voters

In US, Hispanics represent about 9% or 10% of the electorate, but in key states can make up 12% to 16% of voters, and as much as 35% of the voting population. And, what’s surprisingly,  they’re not as interested in the immigration issue as politicians appear to believe they are.

“They’re more interested in the economy, jobs, education, government waste and higher taxes”,

“Language is also important. A large percentage of the swing voters — one-third or more — is Spanish dominant. A relatively small group only watches English-language media, and even they think it’s important to advertise on Spanish-language media. They say that’s a sign of respect for their community.”

Eighty-four percent of registered Latino voters go to the polls and vote, said Chiqui Cartagena, VP corporate marketing at Univision Communications. She said that 34% of Latinos are under 18 and that every year 500,000 Latinos turn 18, offering both parties an opportunity to woo young voters.

She said neither party is well-versed enough in Hispanic consumers to show they care about them. “They want to tick the [Latino] box and make the other candidate look bad. I want to be talked to about jobs and health care and government waste.”

Ms. Cartagena said that 40% of new registered voters in 2008 were Latinos. Among all Latino voters, about 16% can be considered swing voters.

Those Latino swing voters are likely to be important in the 2012 presidential election. Mr. Mellman cited five states — Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada — that will play a central role and have substantial Latino populations. Other very divided states like Virginia and North Carolina have smaller numbers of Latinos, but “every vote will count,” he said.

In 2008, the Obama campaign spent about $25 million on Spanish-language media and the McCain campaign spent about $5 million. Lionel Sosa, a long-time Republican political consultant who currently works for Newt Gingrich, said he doesn’t see that changing.

“Obama will be able to spend $25 million,” he said. “The Republicans, it’s hard to say. If it’s Romney, he’ll probably spend less, because even though Latinos don’t care about immigration, when you talk about guns and fences, it sends out an unfriendly message. [But] the world could change 12 months from now. If things are looking up again, they could give Obama another chance.”

He said it’s more important for Democrats than Republicans to advertise in Spanish, and that Republicans can “feature a Latino as the hero in your general market ads. You don’t spend one more nickel.”

Source: AdAge

Better tomorrow,

PR Pret-a-Porter.

Google Plus helps politicians

I really love Google and his ambitious projects. Today, I found out that he even help politicians to communicate with their voters. Please take a look below:

Elect to connect

Share more with your voters and constituents through a Google+ Page

By creating a Google+ Page for your public office or campaign, you and your staff can promote an issue, platform or cause across the web. You can put a +1 button anywhere on the web that you’d like for people to support your content, and you can connect your Google+ Page to your website and Google search results, via Google Direct Connect. Regularly posting interesting content, engaging with your followers by asking questions, and sharing photos and videos are all ways to keep people coming back for more.

Check it out: See how Senator Bernie Sanders polls his constituents for ideas or how the French governing party, UMP, and main opposition party,Parti Socialiste, share their campaign platforms on their Google+ Pages.

Show what you support, and who supports you with +1

To help define your political positions, you can now publicly support political ideas, projects or news articles by clicking the +1 button on other Google+ Pages, posts or articles across the web. And people who share your viewpoint can express themselves by clicking the +1 button on your Google+ Page or on your posts. You can also set up the +1 button on your office website or on your campaign display ads to connect it to your Page.

Check it out: Constituents expressed their viewpoints on British Prime Minister David Cameron’s post about the G20 summit through +1s and comments.

Tailor messages to different audiences with Circles

Google+ allows you to group followers into Circles, so you can tailor messages to different groups of voters or constituents. For instance, you can create a specific circle for those who shared or +1-ed your posts, or for your donors. If you want your message to reach everyone, simply click on Public.

Check it out: See how Michigan Governor Rick Snyder reached out to his Google+ followers to add more people to his circles.

Hang out with your voters or constituents anywhere in the world, right from your office

Host a virtual Town Hall meeting, keep office hours, or meet face-to-face with constituents across the country through Hangouts, an easy-to-use high-quality group video chat for up to 10 people. In the future, you can also live stream your Hangout on YouTube for other interested parties to follow – a handy tool for communicating with voters.

Check it out: Broadcast live by Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Governor Mitt Romney spoke with voters through Hangouts. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu used Hangouts to connect for the inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace lecture.

Share photos of your campaign and meetings

Google+ lets you easily upload, edit and share photos of your campaign wherever you are. With Instant Upload, photos you take with an Android device can be stored automatically online, so you can access them on Google+ in one click. If you allow geo-tagging to locate your pictures, constituents can also virtually follow you on the road.

Check it out: See how French leading democrat Deputy François Bayrou shared photos from his daily meetings with constituents, or how Senator Mark Warner shared a YouTube video of his trip across Virginia to meet with local communities.

Dear Google, you rock!

Better tomorrow,

PR Pret-a-Porter.