53% of Hispanic men who voted supported Trump, compared to 37% of women. Trump achieved his best historical result (45%) in the Latino community.
It took him three presidential elections, but Donald Trump has finally found an ally who had previously resisted him. The Republican secured a second term in the White House with the help of the Latino vote, a key sector of the American electorate. This November, many Latinos backed the tycoon’s message, despite its occasional xenophobic and racist undertones. While votes are still being counted, Trump has made solid gains in counties with a Hispanic majority—particularly among men.
Democrat Kamala Harris won the Hispanic electorate with 53%, compared to Trump’s 45%, according to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research. Demographic trends will become clearer once the count is complete nationwide, which could help in analyzing voting patterns. Preliminary data show that Trump made significant improvements with the Latino vote compared to 2020, gaining around 10 percentage points.
Latina women continued to overwhelmingly support Harris over her rival: 61% to 37%. Latino men, however, leaned toward the Republican candidate (53% to 45%).
“This is the first time, at least since 1972, when exit polls began, that a Republican candidate has won among Hispanic men,” said analyst Harry Enten of CNN on Tuesday night. Trump also solidified his support among the Hispanic community in highly populated states and Republican strongholds like Florida and Texas.
But his gains were also notable in swing states, where Harris underperformed relative to Biden’s performance four years ago. Harris’s lead over her rival was reduced to a slim 15% in Pennsylvania, home to many Puerto Rican and Dominican voters. In Michigan, another key state, Trump reversed previous outcomes and established himself as the first choice of Hispanics (+19%).
The growing distance of Latinos from the Democratic Party helps explain the increasing support for Trump, especially in regions like Texas and Arizona, where many Latinos perceive Democrats as too “extreme.” John Sides, a professor at Vanderbilt University, has warned about this trend. He has studied how some conservative values among Hispanics have led to a decline in support for Democrats. For example, Latinos do not view the transformation of institutions to combat systemic racism in the U.S. as an urgent priority, according to a 2021 Pew survey.
Another explanation emerged in late October from Amanda Sahar and Marcel Roman, professors at the School of Government at Georgetown and Harvard Universities, respectively. In a recent essay, the professors argued that some Latinos are resistant to aspects of U.S. identity politics, particularly the use of the term Latinx, a label adopted by progressive politicians to reach out to their electorate in support of LGBTQ+ rights.
Trump to Latino voters: “Maybe we’ll get your vote. Sounds like maybe I won’t, but that’s OK, too.”
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