One of the more curious trends over the past few years that has caught Democrats and Republicans alike off guard is former President Donald Trump’s popularity among the Hispanic community. Surely, someone who vowed to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and used allegedly racist language to describe illegal immigration would turn off the population to whom his policies and words were directed. Or so the Democrats thought.
But that’s not what happened. During the 2020 presidential election, Trump won the support of 1 out of 3 Latino voters (a shocking feat for a Republican candidate in general, let alone Trump) and flipped a number of Democratic-controlled districts in Texas populated mostly by Hispanics. By the end of 2021, support for Trump among the Hispanic community had translated to support for the Republican Party as a whole, with Latino voters
evenly split
on which party they would back in the next election.
That trend has only accelerated. Last week, a Quinnipiac poll
found
that Hispanic voters disapproved of President Joe Biden more than any other racial group, with just 12% of Hispanics saying they “approve strongly” of his handling of the country. For comparison, just two years ago, Hispanic voters gave Democratic House candidates more than 60% of their vote.
So what happened? Why the sudden switch?
Well, it turns out that while the Democratic Party was busy assuming that Trump’s divisive rhetoric would drive Hispanics and other minority voters away, he was actually drawing them in. They
shared his concerns
about the southern border and illegal immigration and agreed that their communities would be better off if the immigration system was more secure.
Latinos make up roughly 13.3% of registered voters in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. In December, an
Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll
in partnership with Noticias Telemundo found that COVID-19 and crime topped the list of concerns for Latinos. A new poll of Hispanic voters in Texas
surveyed by Emerson College
showed that several Texas voters in the English- and Spanish-speaking focus groups viewed the Democratic party as representing the middle and lower classes. But several of the same people said they were better off financially under Republican leadership.
Regarding Biden, many Hispanic voters share the same concerns as other U.S. residents when it comes to his handling of the economy. They see the record-high gas prices and skyrocketing inflation rates and understand that his policies have, at the very least, contributed to the financial woes they are now facing. And they’ve had enough.
Whether Hispanic voters stick with the GOP remains to be seen. But there is no question that this community is undergoing a massive political change — one that will affect local, state, and federal elections for years to come.
