The ‘Great Unifier’

For some, Donald Trump is the larger-than-life contestant of the ultimate reality show, the one candidate they really want to vote into the big house. Others call him an unhinged fascist, a dangerous demagogue and, in light of his calls for bans on the immigration of Muslims and the curtailing of their civil liberties, a Hitler in the making. J.K. Rowling has also chimed in saying that Trump was “worse than Voldemort”, the fictional dark wizard of her best-selling Harry Potter series. Perhaps more damningly, one person even said that Trump was as if the “internet comments section came to life and ran for president”.

But the one title that Trump truly deserves is that of ‘Great Unifier’. After all, just about every time he opens his mouth he ends up uniting people against him. Take the Latinos, an increasingly important voting
demographic in the US. According to the Centre for American Progress, they accounted for 8.4pc of the electorate in the 2012 polls, which was an increase of 15pc from 2008. With about 800,000 Latinos turning 18 (and thus becoming eligible to vote) every year, Latinos will likely account for 13pc of all eligible voters in 2016.

The problem is that when compared to white or African-American voters, the Latin turnout isn’t very impressive; while 11.2 million Latinos did vote in 2012, 12.1 million Latinos who were eligible to vote did not register. That means that while 64pc of eligible white voters and 66pc of African Americans cast their ballots, only 48pc of Latinos did so.

Thanks to Trump, that’s now changing. In June this year, Trump said of Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Later, he refused to retract those comments and even defended them. One result of this is that Latin voters are now registering in greater numbers thanks to appeals from the community and Latin celebrities like Shakira and Ricky Martin. In one popular campaign commercial, a Latin mother implores her daughter to vote in order to “shut Trump’s big mouth”.

For more detail  The ‘Great Unifier’

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