Latino advocates grapple with Hispanic vote shift after Trump election win
A group of Democratic-leaning advocates say their polling shows that Trump did not win a majority of Latino men and that Latinos still support progressive policies.
After Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s dramatic performance with Latino voters, a coalition of Democratic-leaning Latino groups is grappling with the shift and trying to reconcile it with the policies they say many Hispanics support.
The groups challenged just how large Trump’s gains were with people of color, particularly among Latino men, but acknowledged that the gains were significant, as was the Latino gender divide.
The recurring dispute over how well exit polling captures Latino voters — the groups and pollsters have raised it in previous elections — has ramifications for nonprofit groups that have focused on improving Latino voter turnout. These same groups also advocate for a Latino agenda that has been largely aligned with Democratic Party policies and for candidates and issues of equity. It also can affect their funding for those missions, something that is a continual struggle.
In no uncertain terms, economic discontent drove Latino men’s vote, said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, vice president of the Latino Vote Initiative for UnidosUS, a national Latino advocacy group whose social welfare arm, UnidosUS Action Fund, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Republicans had a historic night, largely expressed through discontent with the economy. That was the most potent driver,” Martinez de Castro said in a conference call Tuesday.
Rating: 5