Although Texas is commonly regarded as an undoubtedly red state based on party preference, this shockingly might be changing, as Texas has been called a swing state by many analysts. Former Texas Senator, Wendy Davis, once said, “Texas is not really a red state -- it's just a non-voting state.” However, it’s not just Texas that’s a non-voting state, it’s the whole country, with only an estimated 57.5 percent of eligible voters who filled out a ballot.
Davis is completely right, however, as Texas is regarded as a sleeping giant of voting. The Hispanic population in Texas has been rapidly rising -- a population that tends to favor the democratic party. As of the 2014 U.S. Census, 28 percent of Texas’s eligible voter population is Hispanic. However, the majority of this population does not exercise their right to vote. A recently released CBS poll states that only 31 percent of the Hispanic population would vote for Trump
This shift in Texas’ political orientation is more likely than not due to the highly racist and insensitive comments that have been made by Donald Trump in his race to become the next president of the United States. While political efficacy may still be low, Trump’s comments have lit a fire under many who are determined not to allow him to be our country’s next president. Such comments include, “The protesters in New Mexico were thugs who were flying the Mexican flag. The rally inside was big and beautiful, but outside, criminals,” "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime" and, “Jeb Bush is crazy, who cares that he speaks Mexican, this is America, English!” Trump’s ideas of building a wall, as well as his mass deportation policy is not sitting well with this population, significantly lowering his chances of winning Texas in what has been called, “the Trump factor.”
Trump is now leading in Texas by a margin of less than five points. In stark comparison, Mitt Romney won Texas in 2012 by 16 points. Let me hit you with some facts. Texas has not elected a democratic president since 1976 (for my history fans playing along at home, that would be Jimmy Carter). There are currently no democrats in a state-appointed position in Texas. Texas has 38 electoral college votes, the second largest number, after California.
Luckily, in 2016, there are one million more registered Latino voters than there were in 2012. Our country is on the right path with increasing numbers of registered voters. Who knows where Texas will land in this coming election but either way, this is history in the making.
