Wait, What? Latino Voters Didn’t Vote the Way Everyone Assumed, New Poll Drops Some Mind-Blowing Insights
One of the biggest stories of the 2024 presidential election was the vast and significant shift in Latino voters for President-elect Trump. While the candidate did make inroads with the Latino electorate, the story is now different with the release of a new poll from the American Electorate Poll of Hispanic Voters powered by Unidos US.
According to the poll, Latino voters cast their ballots decisively for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Latino voters didn’t swing as drastically to President-elect Donald Trump as first reported
While Latino men did swing more towards President-elect Trump, the numbers are less drastic than initially reported in exit polls. It is still a big jump but the American Electorate Poll of Hispanic Voters shows that Latino men voted for Vice President Harris at 56 percent, as opposed to the 53 percent reported earlier, and voted for President-elect Trump at 43 percent. There are still a lot of votes left to be counted in states with large Latino populations, like California so that number could continue to change.
Additionally, Latina women voted for Vice President Harris 66 percent while 32 percent voted for President-elect Trump.
Unidos US, the largest nonpartisan organization representing Latino people, helped to create the new polling information that is changing the view of the Latino vote. The data provides insight into how Latino voters voted in eight states with large Latino populations: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
In the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, for example, Latino men voted 63 percent for Vice President Harris and 35 percent for President-elect Trump. Meanwhile, Senator Bob Casey, who is running for re-election, got 65 percent of Latino men’s votes and performed better than Vice President Harris.
Latino voters see the two political parties very differently
According to the polling data, Latino voters have very different views of the two political parties. When asked how they felt about the Democratic Party, 61 percent of voters said they think the party “cares a great deal,” 33 percent said they “don’t care too much,” and six percent said the party was “being hostile.”
On the other hand, 32 percent of Latino voters who spoke to the poll said that the Republican Party “cares a great deal,” 36 percent say they “don’t care too much,” and 31 percent think the Republican Party is “being hostile.”
The more Latino voters contacted, the better the results
Unidos US Deputy Vice President Clarissa Martinez blames the bad exit polling at the beginning on a recurring issue of sampling. The Latino vote is a complex group that does not vote on a monolith dictated by individual immigration experiences, where they live, and who they surround themselves with.
The American Electorate Poll of Hispanic Voters interviewed 3,470 voters across the eight states it studied to investigate their motivations for voting. The poll provides an incredible look at what brought Latino voters to the polls and what issues impacted their decisions.
You can check out the full American Electorate Poll of Hispanic Voters here.
