Saturday, September 12, 2020

Hispanics Are Moving Toward Trump

Giancarlo Sopo is the Trump re-election campaign's director of rapid response for Spanish Language Media so he'd be expected to shine the best light on Republican efforts to woo Hispanic voters that he can. Even so, his recent essay in The Federalist and the statistics which accompany it are quite stunning.

For instance, in 2016 Trump won 28 percent of the Hispanic vote, a total that fell below the 31 percent GOP presidential candidates have averaged since 1980, but two recent surveys show Trump currently at 35 and 37 percent of the Hispanic vote. These are the highest Hispanic totals for a Republican since 2004.

These are nation-wide figures, but state polls are not encouraging for the Biden campaign either. Some of them show Mr. Biden failing to garner the same level of support Hillary Clinton did in a losing effort to Trump in 2016. Here's Sopo:
In Florida, a survey by Democratic polling firm Equis Research found Biden running 11 points behind Hillary Clinton’s Hispanic vote margin over Trump in a state that she lost. According to a new NBC/Marist poll released this week, among Latino voters, Trump is leading in the Sunshine State with 50 percent compared to Biden’s 46.

A recent Rice University and Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation poll found Biden trailing Clinton’s Hispanic vote margin over Trump by a whopping 18 points. Meanwhile, a new Bendixen & Amandi poll found Trump crushing Biden by 38 points among Cuban Americans, which had been previously trending Democratic.
It should be noted that all this is despite the fact that Democrats have sought to use Trump's immigration policies as a hammer to pound him with among Hispanics. Nevertheless,
Latinos recognize the president is a strong leader whose policies delivered record-low unemployment and poverty levels for our communities before the global pandemic.

GOP operatives often say that Hispanics are natural GOP constituents because we are hard-working, family-centric, and pro-life. This is all true, but we also resist the left’s cultural edicts. Much of the president’s broader policy agenda — yes, including on immigration — is popular with Hispanics. This is a fact that befuddles many political observers, and some refuse even to acknowledge it.
Sopo has more for interested readers at the link, but the upshot is that the Democrats can ill-afford to lose such a large percentage of the Hispanic vote in November. Yet they find themselves stuck with a candidate, Joe Biden, who simply doesn't generate much enthusiasm in this demographic, even among those who've traditionally voted Democratic.