Plus Three

Bernie Sanders Latino Event

Dear Randy,

In all of my years of fundraising, one thing I have not seen is an accounting by either of the major political parties of Latino giving. Granted, both the Democratic and Republican party talk about the importance of the Latino vote and Presidential campaigns are rolling out elaborate marketing campaigns trying to win over Latino voters, but who are Latinos actually investing in? For years we have had the technology and data to properly account for Latino giving and yet it’s something that has never been publicly made available until now.

Given the importance of the 2020 Presidential election and the focus on Latinos, and issues important to our community, Plus Three analyzed 4,712,247 contributions totaling $131,273,383 to Democratic Presidential Candidates to find out who Latinos are investing in this campaign cycle.

Read the full report: Growing influence of Latino donors is on the rise in the United States and see the Data Visualizations here.

Using a probability-weighted or expected-value method based on the prevalence of Hispanics for each surname, the best estimate from this surname contributor list is that 713,678 contributions (transactions, not donors) garnered $13.54 million from Latinos from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 to the presidential campaigns. This data shows that Latinos contributed 10.31% of the total contributor dollar amount in the Census 2010 surname list.

Latino Giving to Presidential Candidates

Given the results of our research we can conclude that the Latino community is on track to donate over $100 Million dollars to Democratic Presidential Candidates through 2020 elections.

At Plus Three, we use this public data to provide insight and shine light on how Latinos are engaging in political campaigns and specifically which campaigns they are donating to. The perception has long been that Latinos are not donors to political campaigns and are not heavily invested in the outcomes of elections when measured by giving tendencies or voter turnout.

Bernie Sanders is by far the leader in fundraising from the Latino community (outpacing Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren). Sanders has taken in 34.9% of the overall Latino fundraising across all campaigns. Given the nature of his grassroots support and small dollar recurring contributions which drive the Bernie Sanders campaign, Sanders will continue to outpace his rivals and even further strengthen his fundraising position among Latinos over the course of the campaign.

Latinos in the United States are coming of age politically as they become more directly engaged with campaigns and elections. The 2020 election will be a milestone for Latinos as they look to invest more than $100 Million dollars in campaigns for Democratic Presidential candidates.

Latino Giving by Surname

Read the full report: Growing influence of Latino donors is on the rise in the United States and see the Data Visualizations here.

While most candidates are just introducing themselves to Latinos, Bernie Sanders has been running for President for 4 years now. The combination of Sanders name recognition and his continued efforts to appeal to Latinos wherever they live and work is a testament to his campaigns approach to reach out into every community and ask for their vote and financial support.

Continued investments by Presidential campaigns in Latino staff, community outreach, and minority contracting is an excellent first step. Taking a “general market” approach to communicating and engaging with Latinos will separate winning and losing campaigns especially in population rich Latino states like Florida, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and California.

What is at stake this election is unprecedented for the country but also Latino communities that have been under assault by this administration and their own government for too long now. Latinos are ready to roll-up their sleeves and open their wallet’s to help the next Democratic President get elected.

Sincerely,

Juan Proaño
Plus Three