Despite a massive population in the United States, Mexican-Americans continue to lack political power, organization and nationally viable candidates, creating opportunities that both parties can capitalize on, according to experts.

With nearly 37 million - or 11.3% - of the total US population, Mexican-Americans are by far the largest Latino group in the country. Cuban-Americans, by comparison, number approximately 2.3 million, or 1.7 percent of the US population, according to the Pew Research Center and Census Bureau statistics.

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Despite the vast difference in the size of the two population, the political influence of Mexican-Americans is generally considered weaker than that of Cuban-Americans.

With nearly 37 million - or 11.3% - of the total US population, Mexican-Americans are by far the largest Latino group in the country. Cuban-Americans, by comparison, number approximately 2.3 million, or 1.7 percent of the US population.

Both demographic groups are, at the moment, represented by three members in the US Senate. Mexican-Americans are represented by Senators Ben Ray Luján (New Mexico), Alex Padilla (California) and Catherine Cortez Mastro (Nevada). All three are Democrats.

Cuban-Americans, for their part, are represented by Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz - Republicans from Florida and Texas, respectively - as well as Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey.

In an interview with LPO, Eli Magaña, a Las Vegas-based Mexican-American political consultant and analyst, said that "there has never been a concerted effort" to develop Mexican-American political leaders, particularly on a national level.

"Both the Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this. There hasn't been strong interest in the issues impacting us," he said. "For the most part over the last 40 or 50 years, there hasn't been an investment in developing strong activist leaders or reaching out to non-activists, like business owners, to bring them into the political fold and give them the experience that they would need to run for office."

Senator Marco Rubio.

AP

In a December opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Gustavo Arellano also noted that a number of prominent - and promising - Mexican-American politicians, such as former California lieutenant governor Cruz Miguel Bustamante and former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros "flamed out or got caught up in scandals that set back the cause of Latino politicians for a good generation."

Magaña, for his part, said that a more pressing issue is that the majority of Mexican-Americans are located in states such as California or Texas, far from political activist circles in the East Coast.

"Mexican-Americans are basically an afterthought in these circles," he said. "We're the overwhelming majority of Hispanics in this country, and you go into these settings and they're non-existent."

We just don't have the kind of representation that would match our numbers. It's not just about representing ourselves. It's about having a viable statewide or national candidate. Republicans have actually done a better job building up their Cuban-American constituency, compared to Democrats for Mexican-Americans.

The outsize influence of Cuban-Americans in US politics, Magaña added, is largely a result of effective efforts by the Republican Party to organize them politically, particularly in the key swing state of Florida.

"We just don't have the kind of representation that would match our numbers. It's not just about representing ourselves. It's about having a viable statewide or national candidate," he added. "Republicans have actually done a better job building up their Cuban-American constituency, compared to Democrats for Mexican-Americans."

"We have to ask ourselves why Republicans can elect folks like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, but we haven't seen the equivalent of that in blue states," Magaña said. "It's a reasonable question for Mexican-Americans to ask, because we are, for the most part, pretty reliable when it comes to supporting Democrats at the ballot box. We should be asking why we haven't seen the emergence of that type of leadership."

Senator Ben Ray Luján.

AP

Juan Fernando Ibarra Del Cueto, a political research and assistant professor of political science at Colgate University, said that compared to Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans "tend to be less well-organized politically."

"Cuban-Americans are geographically much more concentrated and, in many ways, better off economically, and have much more resources for political mobilization."

Additionally, Ibarra Del Cueto said that mobilization efforts - and a change in tone - by the Republican Party could also lead to a swell of support among Mexican-Americans.

"Recently the Republican Party has increasingly adopted views, with regards to immigration and race, that are at odds with how Mexican-Americans see themselves," he said. "But on average, they are more conservative than the average American. On many social and cultural issues, it's a group of people who are closer to the positions taken by the Republicans."

To address the issues faced by Mexican-Americans Magaña said that he believes both political parties should bolster community organizing efforts and work to identify potential Mexican-American political leaders and develop pipelines to give them the experience and knowledge necessary to be successful.

In the short-term, however, he said that the emergence of a nationally viable Mexican-American candidate remains unlikely.

"There's just so much work that needs to be done before that happens," he said. "I think we're so far behind in terms of developing Mexican-American political leaders that I just don't see it happening anytime in the near-future."