Hispanic, Asian and black groups have endorsed presidential candidates, but this year, their choices have not reflected the majority opinion of their communities.
The 15,000 member Latino Coalition, a committee representing more than 20 Hispanic associations, announced Wednesday their endorsement of President George Bush.
But only 35 percent of Hispanic voters voted for Bush in 2000, while 62 percent voted for Gore.
In a Washington Post poll, 30 percent of Hispanics said they would vote for Bush in the 2004 race. According to a national survey released by the Annenberg Foundation in 2003, Hispanics lean toward a more liberal position on economic issues and a more conservative position on social issues.
"They say that Bush has done more for the Hispanic community than any other president, but no president has ever supported Hispanics before, so there is no contest," said ethnic studies senior Mary Gonzalez, UT co-director of the Latino Leadership Council.
Ismael Hernandez, UT Hispanic Business Student Association president, said he supports the Latino Coalition's endorsement, because he agrees with Bush's economic policies.
An Asian-American political action committee called "80-20 Initiative" endorsed Sen. John Kerry - sort of. The group supported Kerry this year "with reservation," and director S.B. Woo said he was disappointed with the response from both parties. The Bush campaign did not send a representative to 80-20's convention, and U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., kept the delegates waiting for more than an hour, Woo said.
Even with its "reservation," 80-20 will still spend about $75,000 on advertisements supporting Kerry.
"Our reservation is expressed so [Kerry] knows that in the future he still has to do much more for the Asian-American community," Woo said.
In the 2000 presidential election, 90 percent of blacks voted for Democrat Al Gore.
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