Evelyn Lees was hiking across the mountains of northern New Jersey on Monday afternoon when her cellphone screen lit up with a notification that made the Puerto Rican middle school science teacher leap with joy: the Harris-Walz campaign had launched a bilingual WhatsApp channel for Latino voters.<\/p>\n
Lees, 53, said she ran to her car and immediately joined \u201cLatinos con Harris-Walz,\u201d where she found a selfie-style video from campaign manager Julie Chavez-Rodr\u00edguez promising users \u201cbehind-the-scenes info\u201d and details on what the Democratic ticket is doing to help Latino families.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter so many years of Latinos being so misunderstood, this feels like we\u2019re finally being seen \u2014 like they finally understood our power and are going out of their way to bring us into the fold by meeting us where we\u2019re at,\u201d Lees told The Washington Post.<\/p>\n
Since it launched in 2009, WhatsApp \u2014 the Meta-owned messaging platform \u2014 has become a ubiquitous part of life for Latinos in and outside the United States. By allowing users to send text messages and make phone calls free over the internet, the app has become a crucial means of connecting families spread across the globe. With 54 percent of Hispanic adults in the country using the app, according to Pew Research Center, starting a WhatsApp channel is a smart way to reach an increasingly powerful voter base, experts told The Post. Latinos are expected to comprise 14.7 percent of all eligible voters in November 2024 \u2014 the second fastest-growing voter bloc in the country and one that could prove decisive in swing states, if campaigns can get them to turn out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatsApp will impact this election because it is one of the main sources for some communities \u2014 especially different Latino communities and Indian Americans \u2014 to get their news, and that\u2019s key for the formation of political opinions,\u201d said Inga Kristina Trauthig, the head of research at the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Propaganda Research Lab. \u201cSo jumping on WhatsApp is something crucial and something that any political campaign needs to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the Harris-Walz channel might be the first of its kind for a U.S. presidential campaign, Trauthig said WhatsApp has long played a key role in other races across the globe, from India and the United Kingdom to Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. But the platform has changed over the years from one focused on small group chats and one-to-one messaging, to something more akin to a social media platform, where users can congregate in massive channels, view stories and interact with large communities, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s not only a place where people get news, but you also have all these features where, in the end, you\u2019re actually just broadcasting to a huge audience \u2014 and the big question with that is: in terms of engagement, how much will that help?\u201d Trauthig said.<\/p>\n
That same question divided experts consulted by The Post.<\/p>\n
On one hand, \u201cgoing where people already are and creating a space and a pathway to communicate with Latinos is so important,\u201d said Stephanie Valencia, president of Equis, an organization that conducts research on Latino outreach and engagement. In particular, WhatsApp\u2019s channels feature, which launched in 2023, allows the campaign to engage with a massive number of voters through a slew of media \u2014 from videos and photos to messages, voice notes and stickers.<\/p>\n
Plus, Valencia added, the users\u2019 ability to forward these messages to their own groups and contacts helps amplify the campaign\u2019s messaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are a Harris-Walz supporter and you follow their account and you are the person sharing that to your friends and family, that may carry more weight than them seeing that you posted something on social media,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a direct line to people\u2019s phones, and their supporters become a trusted messenger as part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a messaging ecosystem rife with propaganda \u2014 and where Latinos are increasingly targeted with misinformation \u2014 the channel could help users access official campaign information straight from the source, said Marisa Abrajano, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, voters who join a campaign\u2019s channel \u201care already positively predisposed to those candidates,\u201d Abrajano said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cheap, it\u2019s easy, and you can potentially reach out to millions of people,\u201d she said. \u201cBut on the flip side, if you look at all the research into the most effective way to mobilize low-propensity voters like Latinos, it\u2019s not through social media and it\u2019s not through text messaging. It\u2019s the most labor intensive, door-to-door canvassing efforts. That\u2019s what\u2019s been proven time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to data compiled by the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at City University of New York, 54 percent of voting-eligible Latinos cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential race. Though it was the highest turnout mark for Latinos on record, it still lagged well behind Asian, Black and White Americans.<\/p>\n
Research done to explain this gap has pointed to different obstacles \u2014 from complex voter registration and voting procedures to parties doing a lousy job targeting Latinos. The latter is especially difficult because the Latino electorate defies easy categorization. It\u2019s made up of diverse communities shaped by different backgrounds and motivated by distinct issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this stereotypical image of us Latinos like eating tacos and caring mostly about immigration,\u201d said Lees, who also has a TikTok account dedicated to providing voting information in Spanish. \u201cBut the reality is that some of us might be Spanish or English [speaking] dominant. Some of us came here generations ago or are newcomers. And while we all have this common Latinidad, we don\u2019t fit into a neat category.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the Harris campaign should pair their WhatsApp channel with \u201clots of different tactics that reach different segments and, in some cases, overlapping segments of the community,\u201d Valencia said. The campaign, she said, has already undertaken \u201cimpressive efforts\u201d to achieve this goal \u2014 from enlisting influencers to appeal to younger voters to running ads targeting \u201cthe English-dominant Latinos that are more like veterans and men,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Roberta Braga, the executive director of the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas, already sees a promising sign with the channel\u2019s use of English and Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the message here is: \u2018We care about you and we want to share information in all of the languages you use,\u2019\u201d Braga said. \u201cAnd it also translates to wanting to engage and communicate with Latinos \u2014 not just get their vote, but also inform them about policy proposals and their impact on people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since launching Monday, the Harris campaign\u2019s channel has attracted more than 3,000 users, sharing snippets of Latino politicians at the Democratic National Convention, behind-the-scenes videos from the likes of Eva Longoria and Ana Navarro, and a voice note from Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
Lees has so far been impressed \u2014 though she said she has one piece of advice: \u201cI think they can still add a little saz\u00f3n,\u201d a little spice. \u201cGive us music, give us joy, give us the things that make us proud to be Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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