NewsTaco

By Melissa del Bosque

Hispanics are largely in favor of the government raising taxes on the rich in order to reduce the budget deficit, according to the latest poll by Impremedia and Latino Decisions.

Almost half of those surveyed, 46 percent, said they believe the deficit should only be cut by raising taxes on the rich.  The poll also found that jobs and the economy are the top issues within the Hispanic community.

“The great majority of Hispanics say that it is better to raise taxes on the rich instead of cutting aid programs to the public,” Gary Segura, a professor of political sciences at Stanford University and researcher with Latino Decisions, said.  “In addition, the ImpreMedia survey reveals that jobs and the economy are the main concerns of Latino registered voters.”

Slightly less of the respondents, 37 percent, said they favored a mix of raising taxes and cutting spending.  Only 7 percent said that social programs should be cut.

“But the most important thing is that Latinos are liberals who favor (having) the government solve social problems. So, they’re not going to support the government cutting social programs,” said Segura.

Pilar Marrero, a political reporter with La Opinion, an ImpreMedia publication based in Los Angeles and one of the largest and most influential Spanish-language dailies in the country, says Hispanics differ in their politics from whites, who tend to mix religion with politics and favor more conservative measures.

“Latinos think that in the bad times of economic recession the government is a help, so the conclusion is that the profile of the Latino voter is politically and economically different,” she said.

The survey was conducted between July 27th and August 9th in 21 states with the largest concentrations of Hispanic voters. The margin of error is plus/minus 4.38 percent.

References:

Latin America Harold Tribune

[Photo By borman818]

So a lot of hype came up recently when news that a Latino was set to purchase the Atlanta Hawks NBA team.

Alex Meruelo is the son of Cuban immigrants and now a businessman with investments in everything from real estate to pizza to wind turbines. He’s also set to purchase the basketball team, becoming the first Latino NBA owner in history, if the deal goes through. Oh, and he’s loved basketball since he’s a kid.

And I think it’s this last part that is the most important to think about here.

We’ve reported for a while now that the NBA is actively hoping to expand its Latino audience in order to expand its profits. This is being done largely via the Los Angeles Lakers and their huge Latino fan base, with Latino fan nights for example, but the NBA as a whole launched a marketing campaign specific to Latinos back in February.

Enter Meruelo.

As a Latino owner, who also happens to be a basketball lover and a successful businessman, I’d bet Meruelo would not only be able to capitalize on the NBA’s current outreach efforts, but enhance them as well. So while it’s exciting that Meruelo would be the first Latino NBA owner, it’s also important to consider that the NBA as a whole would stand to benefit from his ownership as the league moves forward in search of new fans.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD.

Big beer brands like Budweiser, Heineken and Crown are increasingly targeting Latinos in their marketing because, as Latinos grow in population, they comprise a higher percentage of the drinking population. The Wall Street Journal published an interesting story today noting this fact, in part the story said:

The scramble comes as the U.S. beer industry appears to be headed for a third-straight year of declining sales volume, in part because high unemployment has damped the spending power of its core customers—men ages 21 to 34.

But the rivalry also reflects the long-term importance of Hispanic consumers. By 2030, Hispanics will account for 23% of the nation’s legal-drinking-age population, up from 16% in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau forecasts. According to surveys by Crown Imports—whose brands include Corona Extra, the top-selling imported beer in the U.S.—Hispanics also tend to consume more beer on occasions when they drink than do non-Hispanics.

This gets even more interesting when you consider there are both domestic and international competitors for these Latino beer drinkers. If you recall, we reported that while Latinos tend to drink about 75% domestic brands, the rest of the pie has yet to be fully divided.

Which helps explain why Anheuser-Busch spent $56 million, 10% of its media, on Latino marketing last year and MillerCoors spent $45 million, or 11.4%. Yeah, yeah, the $1 trillion-plus Latino market in the U.S. But I thought it was also worth noting that Latinos are just making up a bigger percentage of drinkers, too, since the wine industry is also courting Latino customers this makes the most sense.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Photo By dawgbyte77]

There are 25 million Latinas in the U.S. and companies like Kmart have taken notice. In a new campaign called Latina Smart, Kmart recruited five Latina bloggers to write about everything from food to fashion to culture. AdAge writes:

Marketers have put lots of effort into building social-media programs around key targets such as moms and youth. Now they’re turning their focus on another fast-growing, social-media-savvy segment: the Hispanic-blogger community.

This week Kmart kicks off its Latina Smart platform, built around five blogueras, after a soft launch in late April. Each of the five Latinas writes regular blog posts that run on both the Latina Smart Facebook page and on their own blogs, and engages in other activities such as Twitter parties and photo contests.

We wrote previously that Latinas are largely responsible for spending the $1.4 trillion wielded by Latino consumers in the U.S. So it makes perfect sense that Kmart, as well as other brands like Google and UFC,  are focusing their energies on this important and emerging market.

Whether Latina bloggers being marketed by Kmart as “bolder than our curves and louder than our accents” is the best way to recruit more Latina/o dollars is yet to be seen, but for small to large businesses in the country, the message should be clear: now is the time to reach out to the Latino market.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Photo By Spit-fire]

Groupon is a social buying company that has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past year and an interesting report this week makes the case that social buying will become especially lucrative for Latino customers.Groupon started in November of 2008 in Chicago and offers its services in U.S. cities across the country, but also in Vancouver, Toronto, London and elsewhere. Basically, Groupon offers one daily deal in each city and if enough people sign up, the deal makes; it’s called social buying because it involves people getting their friends to get in on the deal (using social media, for example) so they can get the discount at a restaurant, spa, gym, hotel, etc.

Groupon takes a percentage of each deal, customers get discounts, businesses get more business and everyone seems to win. In a blog from Being Latino, Carlos Macías notes that Latinos stand to gain both as business owners and customers. Here’s why:

1. Economic growth is led by Latinos: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States increased by 43.7 percent to 2.3 million, more than twice the national rate of 18.0 percent between 2002 and 2007.” Like most immigrants, Latinos are natural entrepreneurs.

2. Social media is dominated by Latinos: The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project determined that 18 percent of Latinos use Twitter compared to 13 percent of Blacks and 5 percent of Whites. Also, Latinos are closing the gap on Internet usage. Just ask Being Latino or Latinos in Social Media (Latism) for some traffic data. Your jaw may drop.

3. Purchasing power: A recent report from the Selig Center for Economic Growthat the University of Georgia Terry College of Business says that despite the recession, the Latino market is expected to grow 50 percent, from $1 trillion in 2010 up to $1.5 trillion in 2015. We are working and spending, a lot!

4. Acculturation levels: The old notion that Spanish is the only language to connect with Latinos in the United States has been debunked. A white paper from comScore says that 70 percent of Latinos prefer to surf the Internet in English. Companies like Groupon just need a little seasoning on cultural intelligence and voila! This could be one of the best business opportunities of the decade.

5. Mobile Internet is also our turf: Sharing the top spot with Blacks, English-speaking Latinos are “the most active users of the mobile web.” So far, we text, take pictures, and access the Internet, among other things. The next frontier? Shopping online using our smartphones.

Richie and Lucía Matthews wrote an interesting piece about the big money power of young Latinos in the U.S. Not only is the Latino market in the U.S. projected to grow to $1.3 trillion dollars by 2015 (incidentally, this is a ton of money and not a far off time period), but the number of young Latinos is growing.

The authors call these young Latinos Generation Ñ:

“Approximately one in six Americans is of Hispanic descent or origin. More than half are under the age of 26 and by 2020, the number of Hispanic teens is expected to increase by 62 percent as compared to 10 percent growth in the number of teens overall. Hispanic youth are a powerful consumer force underlining the Latino presence in general consumer market culture.  Typically English speaking, or at English preferred, socially connected and heavy technology users, Latino teens, ‘Generation Ñ’ are leading the way in general market infiltration.”

The bottom line is, Latinos are going to wield significant amounts of economic power in the immediate and long-term future.

[Photo By DieselDemon]