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Carly Fiorina Reaching Out To Latinos

Samantha Yerks |
October 8, 2010 | 12:25 a.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Creative Commons
Creative Commons

With less than a month until Election Day, Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina has been reaching out to California's Latino community in an effort to close in on incumbent Barbara Boxer, whose lead has been growing consistently.

Fiorina is currently trailing Boxer by 38-points for support from Latino voters according to the latest LA Times/USC poll.

Fiorina met with Latino business owners in San Diego on Wednesday to outline her plans to cut taxes. She received applause when proposing to “repeal the death tax once and for all.”

Fiorina said that she wants Latinos to “understand who I am.”

In June, Fiorina launched a website in Spanish as part of her “Amigos de Carly” campaign. A blue bus with “Vota Tus Valores,” or vote your values, has been traveling through the state with members of the National Organization for Marriage, many who are conservative Hispanic voters.The National Organization for Marriage will also be launching television ads for Fiorina in Spanish.

Fiorina might have made an impact with conservative Hispanic voters who typically lean to the right based on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, but her stances on immigration policy will make it difficult for her to garner more support from Latinos.

Fiorina has confirmed her support for Arizona's immigration law, and priorities border control and comprehensive immigration reform are two of her top priorities.

She supports a temporary worker program for immigrants, criticizing Boxer for striking down a proposed program in 2007. The program would have allowed immigrants to seek jobs in the U.S. for three 2-year periods as long as they returned to their home countries in between.

Fiorina has repeatedly said that Boxer is “no friend of the Latino community,” but her own stances on immigration can be contradictory to efforts to build support.

Latino voters will be an important group in the midterm elections, making up 20 percent of the voting population in California.

 

Reach reporter Samantha Yerks here.

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