VOA慢速英语--美国新公民期待投票

Brenda Cienfuegos recently became a United States citizen. Now, she is eager to exercise her new rights as an American.

Born in El Salvador, Cienfuegos came legally to the U.S. in 2010. She registered to vote right after her U.S. citizenship¹ ceremony in Pennsylvania earlier this year.

The mother of two told VOA that voting gives Latinos like her a voice.

Cienfuegos demurred³ when asked which candidate she plans to support in the November presidential election.

"Like I learned in my country, my vote is secret," she said. "But what can I tell you? I'm going to support the candidate who better supports the Latino community."

Cienfuegos is part of a growing cohort of new citizens taking part in the country's democratic process. U.S. Census⁴ records suggest that more than 23 million naturalized citizens will be able to vote in the 2020 elections. The Pew Research Center says that represents about 10 percent of the electorate⁵.

The political power of naturalized Americans is recognized by many different political groups.

Mike Madrid is cofounder of the Lincoln Project, a political action committee of Republican Party activists⁶ who oppose President Donald Trump⁷. Madrid says that naturalized citizens "have a greater likelihood to vote" than native-born citizens. He added that they are "a much more pro-immigrant voting bloc⁸, being immigrants themselves."

Supporters of Trump say they, too, are reaching out to Americans born in other lands.

"We recognized the importance of engaging every American citizen ..., including those who are naturalized citizens," said Yali Nunez, the Republican National Committee's Director of Hispanic Media.

Naturalized citizens highly likely to vote

The Pew Research Center reports that Latinos and Asians make up nearly two-thirds of new citizens who can vote this year.

Pew found that 53 percent of naturalized Latinos and 52 percent of naturalized Asians voted in 2016. That is compared to 46 percent of native-born Latinos and 45 percent of native-born Asians.

The top countries from which new voters originated are Mexico, the Philippines, India and China.

In North Carolina, Juliana Cabrales is with the NALEO Educational Fund, a nonpartisan group that supports Latino civic⁹ activities. She says political parties need to continue communicating with new Americans all the time, not just in election years.

In the past, parties would "take Latinos for granted, as never voting or always voting one way," Cabrales said. "As an organization, we actively¹⁰ ask political parties to engage Latinos."

Cabrales noted¹¹ that presidential campaigns actively reach out to new Americans in politically competitive states, but often overlook them in the rest of the country.

She said: "Latinos that live in California, in New York, in Texas are often forgotten..."

Appealing to many

Opinion surveys and information from recent elections suggest that immigrant voters often support Democratic Party candidates. That does not surprise some Republicans.

Brendan Steinhauser is a Texas-based Republican adviser¹². He told VOA that some statements by top party officials have caused people to think that Republicans do not welcome immigrants even if they come legally to the United States.

Steinhauser has worked for Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn. He said Cornyn has regularly sent aides to attend naturalization ceremonies in Texas.

Steinhauser said the senator received a lot of support from Hispanic voters. He added that, in the future, appealing to new citizens will be important for the two main political parties.

He said that parties will have to appeal to many different groups across America.

"A party that doesn't do that will not have a future in this country," he said.

I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

Words in This Story

eager – adj. very interested

demur² – v. to refuse a request

cohort – n. a group of people who have something in common

bloc – n. a group of people connected by common goals

originate – v. to have a beginning; to create

non-partisan – adj. free from party or political ties

take...for granted – v. (phrasal) to believe something is true without knowing that is the case

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 demur   

v．表示异议，反对

参考例句：

• Without demur, they joined the party in my rooms. 他们没有推辞就到我的屋里一起聚餐了。
• He accepted the criticism without demur. 他毫无异议地接受了批评。

3 demurred   

v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• At first she demurred, but then finally agreed. 她开始表示反对，但最终还是同意了。
• They demurred at working on Sundays. 他们反对星期日工作。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

5 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

9 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

10 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。