Joe Biden won 65% of the Hispanic vote in the last presidential election. He campaigned on defending the working class and fixing the U.S. immigration system. Two years into his presidency, he has so far failed to do so, and Hispanic voters are increasingly deserting the Democratic Party. With the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, this Washington Examiner series, Taken For Granted, will look at how Biden and Democratic Party policies are failing to connect with the Latino electorate, how Donald Trump and Republicans have benefited, and how it could swing the November midterm elections.
President Joe Biden and Democrats may be celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month, but convincing members of the country’s diverse Hispanic and Latino community to support them in the 2022 midterm elections will not be a party.
Hispanic and Latino voters, who surprised Florida and Texas Democrats last cycle, will be a critical demographic again in November, particularly in the toss-up Arizona and Nevada Senate races, which will determine the balance of power in Washington next year, along with the other competitive campaigns.
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Republicans are proud of the party’s improved standing among Hispanics and Latinos since, for instance, an internal post-2012 elections analysis identified the community as one possible area of “growth and opportunity.”
A decade later, the Republican National Committee is citing the record number of 102 Hispanic and Latino GOP candidates who filed to run for federal office this cycle as evidence of the party’s traction with the group. Republicans also outperformed Democrats in Texas primary election turnout last March by 83%, according to the RNC. Then, Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) became the country’s first Mexican-born congresswoman in June after she flipped her 84% Hispanic Rio Grande Valley district, which has not been represented by the GOP since 1870.
“The RNC’s purposeful engagement forges the way for stronger relationships with minority communities and a stronger Republican Party,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told the Washington Examiner. “Unlike Democrats, Republicans do not take minority communities for granted, and we will continue to work to earn each vote ahead of November.”
The RNC attributes its progress with Hispanics and Latinos to its 35 minority community centers across the country and heralds its new “Republican Civics Initiative.” That program prepares some of the more than 9.2 million lawful permanent residents, or green-card holders, who became eligible voters as of January 2021 to pass the civics component of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ naturalization test.
The RNC only describes “a multimillion-dollar commitment” to Hispanic and Latino outreach and organizing before the 2022 elections. The Democratic National Committee is only slightly more specific, disclosing $70 million in midterm spending, an increase from $30 million in 2018. The DNC, for example, is paying more than $500,000 for print, radio, and online ads during National Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts Thursday, as part of a broader seven-figure buy. The ads supplement its “Adelante” program and its train-to-hire campaign readiness project.
During last week’s DNC meeting in Maryland, Chairman Jaime Harrison told the Hispanic Caucus that Democrats cannot take the community for “granted” nor think of it as “monolithic.”
“It’s going to take more than just translating something into Spanish,” he said. “It’s all about trust. You trust people that you know, people that have shared experiences with you, who understand the nuances of your communities and your families. And that’s important.”
Republicans underscore two July polls, one by the New York Times and Siena College and the other by Quinnipiac University, in which 63% and 70% of Hispanic and Latino respondents disapproved of Biden’s job as president. They mock first lady Jill Biden, too, for saying during the UnidosUS Annual Conference that month that those in San Antonio are “as unique as the breakfast tacos.”
But Biden’s approval-disapproval among Hispanics and Latinos is at 45%-44% this week, compared to his overall rating of 43%-52%, according to Economist-YouGov tracking polling. Politico-Morning Consult’s tracking poll also has Biden’s approval-disapproval among Hispanics and Latinos at 50%-48%, in contrast to his overall 43%-55% rating.
Yet dynamics between Democrats and Hispanics and Latinos have transformed as the party comes to terms with the fact that the community cares about more issues than immigration. Democrats, too, no longer have former President Donald Trump as a political foil, though the party’s own 2020 socialist messaging contributed to losses in Florida and Texas.
At the same time, a Wednesday White House proclamation commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month referred to Biden’s desire to continue building “a fair, humane, and orderly immigration system and fight to protect the rights of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and others who call this country home.”
“That means continuing to support a pathway to citizenship for those with temporary protected status, as well as farm workers and other essential workers,” Biden wrote.
Biden’s address Thursday to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Leadership Conference was preceded by Vice President Kamala Harris‘s appearance at the gathering this week. Harris did not mention immigration, but she did allude to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
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“An important point to be made to all communities is this: You don’t have to abandon your faith or your beliefs to agree the government should not be making this decision for women,” she said.
