Crux of Cruz: How the presidential candidate’s views disagree with majority of Hispanics’

Immediately after his tweet went live announcing his bid for president, “Cruz” was a buzzword across social media platforms, major media outlets and syndicated television news shows.

The first candidate to officially announce his bid for president, if elected, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will become the nation’s first Hispanic president.

The Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project conducted a survey after the 2012 presidential election. The survey shows that since 2004 – when George W. Bush won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote – Republicans have lost 13 percent of the Hispanic vote, declining to 27 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012. Democrats, on the other hand, have made large gains among Hispanic voters. In 2004, 58 percent of Hispanics voted for John Kerry, and that number has steadily climbed to 71 percent of Hispanics who voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

Cruz hopes to swing Hispanic voters back to the GOP; however, polling has indicated that his stance on immigration and the size of government does not harmonize with a majority of Hispanic-American voters.

Immigration

Approximately 90 percent of Hispanic voters support the DREAM Act, while 85 percent support a path to citizenship for the undocumented, stated a Fox News Latino poll in 2012.

The DREAM Act is a law that would “permit certain immigrant students who have grown up in the U.S. to apply for temporary legal status and to eventually obtain permanent legal status and become eligible for U.S. citizenship if they go to college or serve in the U.S. military,” as defined by the National Immigration Law Center.

Cruz is on record as not being in favor of the DREAM Act, and opposes granting amnesty to undocumented aliens.

“I do not support the Dream Act and categorically oppose amnesty,” Cruz said in an interview with Sonja Harris of Conservatives in Action. “I strongly support legal immigration for those that have followed the rules and come here to pursue the American dream.”

Mauricio Rodriguez, president of Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, adamantly opposes the assumption that Cruz understands the issues confronting the Hispanic community.

“Rather than perpetuating vitriolic party rhetoric, [Cruz] should recognize the sacrifice and contributions by a diverse and complex demographic of patriots – all peoples of the Americas,” Rodriguez said. “The DREAM act serves a larger function – the sustenance of this great country.”

Cruz is a staunch supporter of legal immigration, as he noted in his presidential campaign announcement at Liberty University.

“Imagine a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those who come to achieve the American dream,” Cruz said at one point during his speech.

In 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted a national survey that discovered 41 percent of Hispanics consider the priority for dealing with illegal immigration should begin with creating a pathway for people in the U.S. illegally to become citizens, while only 15 percent of Hispanics think the priority should begin with better border security. However, 42 percent of Hispanics support prioritizing both border securities along with also paving a path to citizenship for those currently in the U.S. illegally.

Cruz has remained consistent with his goal to improve border security before passing comprehensive immigration reform. In his speech at Liberty University he challenged his audience to “imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders.”

Dale Huls, a member of the Clear Lake Tea Party Executive Board, emphasized that Cruz’s stance on border security could help bring Hispanic voters to his side.

“Cruz understands that the modern day scourge of human trafficking is a direct result of an open border,” Huls said. “He understands that the cartels and transnational gangs profiting from an open border and terrorizing American-Hispanic communities is a burden on Hispanic citizens.”

Size of government

Cruz has campaigned on the principle of shrinking the scope of government since his initial run for Senate in 2012. He is described as “a passionate fighter for limited government” on his Senate bio page.

In a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project, 75 percent of Hispanics supported a bigger government that provides more services, while 19 percent favored a smaller government with fewer services. These numbers stand in contrast to the general U.S. population where consensus showed only 41 percent are in favor of a bigger government, and 48 percent support a smaller government.

“I’m perfectly happy to work with anyone – Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Republican – if they’re shrinking the size of government, if they’re turning around the debt, if they’re expanding liberty,” Cruz said, in an interview with Today show host Matt Lauer.

In 1981, economists Allan H. Meltzer and Scott F. Richard conducted a study that drew a link between the size of government and the income of the decisive voter. Their research revealed that individuals who were from the lower end of the income distribution channel often supported greater government services.

“There is no question that Ted Cruz is an advocate of smaller government,” Huls said. “He, like many conservatives, wonder when does the safety net become a political gill net, trapping minorities and poor Americans in a life of government dependence.”

A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends in 2011 found that the number of Hispanic children living in poverty jumped to 6.1 million – up 36 percent from 2007 to 2010. The same poll showed that 16 percent of the overall American population is Hispanic; yet, approximately 25 percent of the country’s children are Hispanic.

“It is clear that the interests of the largest and fastest growing demographic in this country are not represented by Ted Cruz,” Rodriguez said. “We, as a union, have failed and continue to fail those who have built and serve this nation. To disavow the need of the people is an offense. Soundbites such as ‘smaller government’ do nothing to establish the course of longevity that this union deserves. Service should be rewarded, not pushed to the back of the line. Chicanos, Latinos, ‘Hispanics’ and all South-of-the-US-border-descent peoples demand dignity of their representation.”

After Ted Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, he was blunt concerning the GOP’s difficulty with attracting Hispanic voters in Texas.

“If Republicans do not do better in the Hispanic community, in a few short years Republicans will no longer be the majority party in our state,” Cruz said, in an interview with The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza in 2012.

He went on to add that if that were to come to pass, “no Republican will ever again win the White House.”