ORLANDO, Fla. — While Republicans gather together for their annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida Democrats are beginning begin to strategize how to improve Hispanic voter outreach.
Matt Barreto, LD Insight founder, said Florida Democrats must begin to engage Hispanic voters now if they want to address shifts in balloting they saw in the 2020 election.
What You Need To Know
- To alter 2020 changes, Democrats should connect with Hispanic voters early
- The party should involve Hispanic leaders to communicate its message, researcher says
- Helping with funding of grassroots efforts is key too, LD Insight founder Matt Barreto says
- Puerto Rican voters in Central Florida could play key role, Barreto says
His polling and research firm's analysis found the best way to do that is through early funding of grassroots organizations, Barreto said.
“We don’t want that funding to come in the last month before the election,” Barreto said. “One of the lessons was that wasn’t useful. We need that funding to come in much earlier to build up local structures, to build up party committees.
“Those need to be Latino-led. If you want to earn the Latino vote, you need to invest in those Latino leaders.”
Central Florida Puerto Rican voters can play a huge role in future elections, he said. Currently, they are voting 2-1 in favor of Democrats. Barreto, who worked on Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, said that could shoot up to 3-1 with proper engagement.