How Latinos Will Vote

-- The Latino vote is not a monolith. There are significant differences based on age, class, generation, education, rural/urban divide, country of origin and other factors. Sometimes, it seems, half the community can't relate to the other half.

-- Latino voting patterns are complicated, nuanced, unpredictable and hard to define. That explains why the media either under-cover the community, or get it all wrong, since the media prefer simple stories and one-dimensional characters.

-- Even though they can't vote, the "Dreamers" are shaking up the political process. These undocumented young people are free agents who criticize politicians across the board and put their goals before the interests of political parties.

-- Latino political leaders at the local, state and federal level are usually irrelevant because, whether Republican or Democrat, they tend to put their party before their people. Driven by ambition, they won't bite the hand that feeds them.

-- Latino voters are empowered when they're in play. Rather than being taken for granted by one party and written off by another, they are most effective when both parties believe they can win their support and are willing to work for it.

-- If candidates in both parties venture into the neighborhoods and go looking for Latino support, they'll find it. But if they go out of their way to antagonize, demonize or patronize Latinos, and look for trouble, they'll find that too.

As for 2016, Latinos probably won't vote for Ted Cruz but they might back Marco Rubio, who is perceived as more of a moderate.

If the Republican nominee is Donald Trump, we can expect Latinos to eagerly vote against him. I predict Trump will get about 20 percent of the Latino vote, which would be a new record low. In 1996, Bob Dole got 21 percent.

Of course, Latino revulsion for the GOP will benefit Hillary Clinton. The presumptive Democratic nominee has strong support from Latinos -- despite her neglect of the community and support for laws that restrict immigration and fuel mass incarceration. Let's put it this way: Trump wants to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. While in the Senate, Clinton voted to fund border fencing and bragged about it to voters.

Hey, I said this constituency was important. I didn't say it was valued, respected or treated well by either party.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.