It’s nothing new anymore to point out that Hispanics in Texas are in the middle of a political realignment. Rep. Mayra Flores’s (R-TX) special election victory in South Texas this summer established this phenomenon as something quite real. But now, we have some polling data specifically for Texas Hispanics from which we can judge the size and scope of Democrats’ problems. The short version is that they’re already in big trouble, but there’s a lot more room for their situation to get worse in the coming months and years.
Patrick Ruffini of Echelon Insights, Leslie Sanchez of Impacto Group, and well-known pollster Lance Tarrance have released results from a survey of 1,200 Hispanic voters in Texas. First of all, they found the two parties in a dead heat ahead of the election this fall — 43% to 43%. Within the South Texas subsample, Democrats’ mere 2-point lead implies that Republicans could carry all three of the three congressional districts in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Keep in mind that, not long ago, these seats were originally created by Republicans specifically to concentrate Democratic votes.
But that’s just the starting point for the transformation that is occurring. The numbers below the fold evince a lot of upside that hasn’t been realized yet in terms of party politics.
For example, fully 61% of these Hispanic respondents were “bothered by the direction” of the current ultra-woke Democratic Party. What are these voters’ top pet peeves about today’s Democrats? The fact the party “supports government welfare handouts for people who don’t work” (18%) and “socialism” (14%) and “focuses mainly on race and gender issues” (12%). Respondents gave the Republican Party a 15-point lead over Democrats as the party more associated with “hard work,” an 8-point lead as the party more supportive of small businesses, and a 7-point lead as the party better for fixing the immigration system.
So, when it comes to specific issues, this demographic group is definitely waking up to the reality of today’s Democratic Party.
Only 40% approve of Joe Biden as president, with 57% disapproving, very much in line with the population overall. A large majority of the respondents (57% overall), especially the ones living in South Texas near the border (60%), wanted to see tougher border enforcement.
But here’s what I consider the best and most interesting result in this poll: When asked how they primarily identify themselves, Hispanic voters in Texas overwhelmingly said they are American (43%) or Texan (23%) first, before Latino or Hispanic (21%). So yes, despite all of the cultural forces of intersectionalism that are trying to Balkanize and otherwise divide the nation, that is a serious show of unity and patriotism.
It’s anyone’s guess how strongly or whether Hispanic voters in other states are following this same trend, although there are hints of it in national polls. It should also be pointed out that voters from different Hispanic origins (e.g. Puerto Rican, Cuban, Venezuelan, Mexican) will necessarily follow the same patterns. But for now, at least in Texas and with predominantly Mexican American populations, Democrats are up the creek. It’s going to get really awkward when they start having to add Hispanics to all the other groups they write off as white supremacists whenever they lose arguments or elections.
