Latinos rank economy, abortion as top issues, will it impact vote?
A NALEO Latino voter tracking poll puts the economy and abortion as top issues for Hispanics in the last two months, but will it get them to the polls.
Sofia Macaya Hale, 49, a chiropractor therapist in Tampa, Florida, was unsure how she'd vote in the upcoming midterms. But she was sure her biggest concern is the high cost of living, especially rising prices for food and gas.
For Jackie Duque, 21, a college senior in Austin, Texas, abortion is the top priority. The overturning of Roe v. Wade “was like an attack on me," she said, adding that she was diagnosed with an illness that could affect her ability to have children and is worried about laws that won't allow her to undergo a necessary procedure, including an abortion to safeguard her health.
Latino voters in battleground states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona can move the needle in tight races that will determine what party controls Congress and top state offices.
Results of the eighth week of a Latino tracking poll commissioned by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) has consistently shown that the economy ranks as the top concern of Latino voters — at 47% — and that abortion and reproductive rights, once hardly mentioned, vaulted to the No. 2 concern this midterm election season, at 30%.
This week, the final week of polling before the Nov. 8 election, shows Latinos backing Democratic candidates for Congress nationally.
Rating: 5