Looks like they didn't read the autopsy #immigration

The nation’s demographic changes add to the urgency of recognizing how precarious our position
has become. America is changing demographically, and unless Republicans are able to grow our appeal the way GOP governors have done, the changes tilt the playing field even more in the Democratic direction.

In 1980, exit polls tell us that the electorate was 88 percent white. In 2012, it was 72 percent white. Hispanics made up 7 percent of the electorate in 2000, 8 percent in 2004, 9 percent in 2008 and 10 percent in 2012. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2050, whites will be 47 percent of the country while Hispanics will grow to 29 percent and Asians to 9 percent.

If we want ethnic minority voters to support Republicans, we have to engage them and show
our sincerity. President George W. Bush used to say, “Family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande and a hungry mother is going to try to feed her child.” When Hispanics heard that, they knew he cared and were willing to listen to his policies on education, jobs, spending, etc. Because his first sentence struck a chord, Hispanic Americans were willing to listen to his second sentence. We heard this from other demographic groups as well. President Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote, a modern-day record for a Republican presidential candidate.

If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United
States (i.e. self-deportation), they will not pay attention to our next sentence. It does not matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies. In the last election, Governor Romney received just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. Other minority communities, including Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, also view the Party as unwelcoming. President Bush got 44 percent of the Asian vote in 2004; our presidential nominee received only 26 percent in 2012.

As one conservative, Tea-Party leader, Dick Armey, told us, “You can’t call someone ugly and expect them to go to the prom with you. We’ve chased the Hispanic voter out of his natural home.”

We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community
and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. We also believe that
comprehensive immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote
job growth and opportunity for all.

Younger voters are increasingly put off by the GOP. A post-election survey of voters ages 18-29
in the battleground states of Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and Colorado found that Republicans have
an almost 1:2 favorable/unfavorable rating. Democrats have an almost 2:1 favorable rating.

For the GOP to appeal to younger voters, we do not have to agree on every issue, but we do need
to make sure young people do not see the Party as totally intolerant of alternative points of view. Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be.

He may not have won "Person of the Year," but as far as the Republican Party is concerned,
Donald Trump is the center of the universe. The Summer of Trump turned to autumn, then
winter, and he's continued to thrive through pundit-predicted fall, after fall, after fall -- becausethe GOP base loves him and everything he stands for.

To commemorate the year Trump took over -- his dominance and uncanny ability to influence
the rhetoric and policy positions of the rest of the GOP field -- American Bridge is closing out
2015 with a five-day countdown of the extreme, far-right policies that Donald Trump has
reinforced and left as his legacy.

Donald Trump was late to the party when he called Mexicans "rapists." Trump's campaign kickoff
might have crystallized the GOP's anti-immigrant rhetoric, but he's definitely not the first one
to espouse far-right conservative policies against immigrants.

If anything, Trump was playing catch up in June to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to compete for
out-of-touch immigration stances. Jeb Bush even got in on the action by going after "anchor
babies," which forced Trump to match Bush's rhetoric.

But now that it's December 2015, it's the rest of the field trying to match Trump -- and causing
further damage to the GOP in the process. Building the yugest, classiest wall with a giant door
and making the Mexican government pay for it is now the de facto position of the Republican
party.

No Republican candidate supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants now that
Lindsey Graham is out. Conservative Tea Partiers have such a stranglehold on the Republican
Party that Donald Trump has become their chief spokesperson on anti-immigration policy and
everything else.

Here's where they stand on immigration:

• Ted Cruz opposes legal status for undocumented immigrants in addition to a path to
citizenship, might support self-deportation, definitely opposes DACA and the DREAM
Act, and supported Arizona's "papers please" law.

• Marco Rubio opposes a path to citizenship, comprehensive immigration
reform, DACA, the DREAM Act, and supported Arizona's "papers please" law.

• Jeb Bush opposes a path to citizenship, DACA, and spent a week in August denigrating
American citizens as "anchor babies" -- kickstarting the conversation on ending birthright
citizenship.

• Ben Carson opposes a path to citizenship, supports ending birthright citizenship,
and would "be willing to listen" to ideas about deporting 11 million undocumented
immigrants.

• Chris Christie opposes a path to citizenship and DACA.

• John Kasich opposes a path to citizenship, DACA, sanctuary cities, and wants to build
the wall. When he thinks of Latinos, he thinks of reasons "why in the hotel you leave a
little tip."

• Carly Fiorina opposes comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to
citizenship, which she calls "amnesty.