IPR Research Notes

Latino Political Advertising: Bulls-eye or Bomb?

Fall 2008 , Volume 30, Number 2

Victoria DeFrancesco Soto

In heavily contested states with large Latino populations, such as Florida and Nevada, both of the 2008 presidential candidates courted Latino voters using English- and Spanish-language advertising and Latino spokespeople. New research by political scientist Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, an IPR faculty fellow, asks if such strategies can effectively woo Latino voters—or backfire politically with non-Latinos.

DeFrancesco Soto and her collaborators have launched a new survey to take stock of these ethnically targeted political ads. Having studied the partisan mobilization of Latino voters since the 2000 election, she finds that such efforts have increased with each subsequent presidential election, with all of the 2008 presidential candidates having formulated a specific Latino-targeted strategy in both the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries and in the general election.

The project examines how different levels of Latino ethnic targeting for both Democratic and Republican candidates—in this case, Barack Obama and John McCain, respectively—influence vote choice. Past research has disproved the assumption that all Latinos respond similarly to the same messages or even prefer such targeted messages in the first place. DeFrancesco Soto will study this, plus whether ethnically angled advertising has led to “ricochet” or unintended effects.

A cornerstone of her study is the idea that Latinos’ political behavior depends on the breadth and depth of their experiences in the United States. DeFrancesco Soto hypothesizes that ethnically targeted ads will draw in Latinos who positively identify with their ethnic heritage and Latino peers.

Yet using this heritage appeal also runs a risk of hurting a candidate’s overall campaign strategy. Candidates who use this tactic could also turn off those Latinos who are more interested in assimilating to mainstream U.S. culture. Furthermore, the ads could alienate non-Latino voters who view them.

To test for ricochet effects, the survey is exposing 3,000 Latino and non-Latino voters to general and Latino-targeted ads. The researchers are varying the participants’ exposure to party sponsor, language of the ad, and the appearance of a Latino endorser. The participants are drawn from 250,000 electors in Los Angeles County.

For more information about DeFrancesco Soto and her work, visit www.northwestern.edu/ipr/people/soto.html.