Bulls Eye or Ricochet? The Effect of Latino Targeted Ads in the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States and having picked up on this demographic explosion the major political parties have made a concerted effort to woo potential Latino voters in the last three presidential elections. Millions of dollars have been spent on Latino targeted ground and air campaign strategies. However, heretofore little research has been done to determine if the rise of Amigo Politics strategies has been an effective mobilizing and/or persuasion tool. Moreover, has the rise of Amigo Politics alienated non-Latino voters? To answer these questions we examine ad data from the CMAG, survey research, and original survey experiments. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]