Deconstructing the National Myth of a Unified “Latinx Vote”
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Both before and after November s election, there was much discussion about the Latinx vote, as if that were one monolithic thing. In truth, the Latinx population in the United States is not the same culture or race. Latinx people represent a great variety of regional, ethnic and political orientations. This is the main reason why it has not been easy for commentators to understand the Latinx vote, which accounts for about 32 million, in this past election – and, in particular, the unexpected level of Latinx support for Donald Trump.
Professor Valerie Endress, who teaches political communication at Rhode Island College and organizes the school s chapter of the American Democracy Project, explains that what we know of the Latinx population is that they are a whole lot of different constituencies that can t easily be counted as Democrats or Republicans. She adds, Given that in our two party sy