Jorge Ramos, the influential host of Univision’s Noticiero Univision, said the Latino vote will decide the 2016 presidential election and that Hispanics could see a reward for providing the margin of victory.
In an interview with Harvard University’s Institute of Politics following a speech to students, Ramos predicted that about 16 million Hispanics will go to the polls, likely to vote Democratic based on past trends.
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He said that there is a “new rule” in politics — winning the White House can’t be done without Hispanics.”
And since he believes Latinos will supply the winner with a victory, “for the first time, we could get something in return for our vote,” said Ramos.
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The interview was part of the regular series “3 with IOP,” during which the Institute of Politics asks three questions to visiting experts and celebrities. The Institute sent the video to Secrets Wednesday.
The second question was: “How important will the Latino vote be in the 2016 presidential election?”
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Ramos said, “The last election, 2012, about 12 million Latinos went to the polls. In 2016, about 16 million Latinos will go to the polls. And there’s a new rule in American politics, and it’s beautiful: That no one can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote. And this is new. It wasn’t true in the past.”
He continued: “In a very close election, and the next election is going to be very close again, Latinos will decide, 16 million votes will decide who is going to be the next president of the United States.”
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Ramos concluded, “For the first time we could get something in return for our vote.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
