Pop music icon Ricky Martin has long been politically engaged — for the entirety of his career in fact. So the upcoming election has proven no different. The signer went so far as to stump for presidential candidate Joe Biden, introducing him at an event in MiIam commemorating the anniversary of the Pulse Massacre. Now, in an upcoming podcast appearance, he explains why he’s voting for the candidate and what he thinks of Latinos for Trump.
“I think he is the only option we have”, Martin said of voting for Biden, who he’s been a supporter of “forever.” The singer made the statements in an upcoming interview on Variety‘s “The Big Ticket” according to them. “He is great and he has been in politics all his life. This is the moment. We all need to get together and be loud about the course of this nation.”
He said that as a Latino, as a gay man, and as someone “married to an Arab” — his husband is Syrian painter Jwan Yosef — he can’t imagine voting for Trump. He even added that seeing so much support for the president among Latinos is “really scary.” In 2016, Trump received 28 percent of the Latino vote, and NBC predicts that he’ll get about 30 percent this year.
While it may seem shocking that so many Latinos support Trump, it makes sense. Many Latinos are white, and white voters have overwhelmingly supported Trump in the past. Latinos make up the largest minority voting group this election, with 32 million of us eligible to vote, about 13 percent of all eligible voters.
Eduardo Gamarra, professor of politics at Florida International University told NBC News that there’s a simple answer why so many Latinos support Trump. Light skin, Spanish heritage, and proximity to witness are all valued highly in many Latin American countries and cultures. “We are racists,” Gamarra said, “we come from racist societies. Latinos agree with [Trump]. They don’t see it as racism.”
Still, Martin is optimistic about Biden’s chances. “I think when you have 50 million people voting already, it’s because we are not the only ones concerned about this and for that I am extremely happy.” Since the podcast was recorded, an additional 19 million ballots have been cast. And early voting could reach up to 100 million ballots before election day on November 3.
Ricky Martin’s episode of “The Big Ticket” will be available to listen to and download November 3.
Via Out
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