Senator Marco Rubio's quick ascent in Republican politics, as Jonathan Chait has pointed out, is the product of a convenient, simplistic electoral calculus: Mitt Romney lost partly because his opposition to immigration reform alienated an historic percentage of Latino voters. So who better to lead the GOP than Rubio, a charismatic Latino who promises to reverse the party's stance on immigration reform?

It easy to see why this explanation, repeated by certain media outlets, appeals to Republicans, since it offers the hope of returning to the White House without caving on core conservative principles—and without the divisive soul-searching demanded by the likes of Rand Paul, Chris Christie, or Jon Huntsman. But it might not save them from defeat in 2016. The GOP's problems extend well beyond Latino voters, and the problems the party does have with Latino voters run far deeper than the ethnicity of GOP candidates or its stance on immigration reform. In fact, Rubio's appeal risks trapping the GOP within the coffin of the Bush coalition at a time when they need to figure out how to break out of it.

A Cuban American nominee who supports immigration reform would indeed help the GOP among Latino voters, but would it produce significant gains? Although immigration reform might act as a gateway issue for Hispanics, it's far from the only reason that Hispanics support Democratic candidates. After all, there was nothing unusual about Obama's support among Latinos. President Bill Clinton did even better among Latinos in 1996 than Obama did in 2008 and 2012, and George W. Bush only won 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2000, despite his focus on education—a top issue among Latinos—and his home state's high Hispanic population. The reasons why Latinos are a Democratic constituency are well-documented: They believe in an activist government; they're not nearly as religiously conservative as Republicans think (a majority now support gay marriage); and they generally low incomes, which correlates with support for Democratic candidates.

Rubio's Cuban ancestry might appeal to some Latino voters, but prior elections suggest that nominating a Cuban American isn't a sure way for Republicans to make inroads into Hispanic communities. In 2012, Texas Republicans nominated Ted Cruz—like Rubio, a Cuban American with tea party support —for U.S. Senate. In November, Cruz outperformed Romney in counties with large Hispanic (mainly Mexican-American) populations, but did so by modest margins: 2 percentage points in Hidalgo County, home to McAllen; 3 points in El Paso; 1 point better in Houston's Harris County; nearly 4 points in rural Starr County, the most heavily Hispanic county (96 percent) in the country; and a more substantial 9 points in Webb County, home to Laredo. But Cruz didn't perform any better than Romney in Dallas or San Antonio's Bexar County, and he performed much worse than Bush did in 2000 and 2004.

Rubio's own performance in 2010, when he was elected to the Senate, is harder to judge. Not only was it an off-year election, making it difficult to distinguish changes in off-year turnout from actual shifts among voters, but it was also a three-way race with Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek. Even so, it's worth noting that Rubio outperformed Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott in Florida's Latino-heavy counties—not only 3 points better in Miami-Dade, home to the country’s largest Cuban population, but also 3 points better in heavily Puerto Rican Osceola county, and 5 points better in Orange County—even though Scott and Rubio both received approximately 49 percent of the statewide vote.