SALT LAKE CITY (ABC News 4) – Mitt Romney’s loss Tuesday night has some arguing the Republican Party needs to broaden its base to include Latinos and more women.
According to national exit polls, Pres. Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote while Romney won just 27 percent. Romney may have hurt himself early in the campaign with his insistence on creating conditions for illegal immigrants to “self deport” themselves.
Archie Archuleta, of Utah Coalition of La Raza says to gain more acceptance of Latinos the GOP needs to soften up on immigration policy.
“That’s causing us to look at Republicans as scams, we’re beginning to look at them and not trust them,” he said.
Women are another demographic that proved troubling for the GOP Tuesday night. Pres. Obama’s win was aided by an 18 point gender gap. Some critics say it was Romney calling reproductive rights a distraction to the economy. The former chair of Utah’s GOP party tells ABC 4 the remarks about “legitimate rape” from GOP senate candidates brought issues to light that struck a nerve with women and hurt republicans.
“It was our candidates’ fault that brought them out, said Dave Hansen. “They were wrong in doing that.”
