Leading up to the United States presidential election, Latin Americans, like Latinos in the United States, widely favored the reelection of President Obama. But Monitor writer Sara Miller Llana reports the results themselves were generally met with a collective shrug.
Of all Latin Americans, Mexicans are perhaps most affected by US policy. The country shares a 2,000-mile border, a drug and weapons problem, and booming trade with its northern neighbor.
According to a poll before Tuesday’s election by the firm Mitofsky in Mexico City, 1 in 3 Mexicans said the election in the US was important. And they, like Latinos in the US who helped clinch Obama’s victory with record turnout, say they favor Obama. Thirty six percent of those surveyed said they wanted Obama to win, compared to just 6 percent who said they supported Romney.
“Mexicans favor Democrats, they believe Mexico will be better with a Democrat in power,” says Analicia Ruiz, an expert on US-Mexican relations at Anahuac University in Mexico City. “There is a fear that Republicans will take a harder line on foreign affairs, such as more vigilance at the border.”
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But belief that Democrats will be better on migration is not based on evidence, Ms. Ruiz says. With the exception of the temporary reprieve that Obama granted this summer to young undocumented migrants brought to the US as children, Obama has been unable to push through any meaningful reform on immigration. His administration has also been behind record deportations of undocumented immigrants.
“In reality Obama hasn’t done anything for Mexico,” Ruiz says.
