Latino Voters Largely Care About The Economy And No Party Is Managing To Attract Most Of Them
Latino voters are set to play a deciding role in determining the outcome of many of this year’s midterm elections, CBS News reported, highlighting that a significant number of competitive races have large Latino populations.
“The House map especially is very Latino,” Carlos Odio, co-founder of Equis Research, a political data firm that specializes in Latino voters told the outlet.
Adding to this outsized influence are increasingly gerrymandered maps that reduce the number of competitive seats. By some estimates, 90 percent of the 435 House races already have been decided by partisan advantage based on how a district was structured by state legislatures.
Currently, only 18 of the 435 races are rated as tossups by the Cook Political Report.
Although Latino voters shifted toward President Trump in 2024, Democrats are hoping to win them back. According to the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of Latinos voted for Trump in 2024, that was up from 36 percent in 2020 and only 28 percent in 2016.
However, since Trump took office, his approval among Latinos has cratered. An April survey by the Pew Research Center found that his approval among Latinos who voted for him in 2024 had declined 27 points.
A potential Latino shift away from Trump also could be significant in several contested Senate races.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico is facing off with Republican Ken Paxton. CBS News reported that in 2024, the state’s significant Latino population supported Trump, with 55 percent voting for him.
In Georgia, incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff’s efforts to hold on to his seat also could be helped if Latinos swing back toward Democrats. Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California told CBS News the state is home to more than 1 million Latino voters.
Attendees at the Latino Vote Summit in Washington, D.C., told CBS News that Democrats need to understand what drives Latino voters in order to appeal to them. Right now, that appears to be economic concerns.
“The Democratic Party still does not understand that there is no national Democratic Party without the Latino vote being part of that coalition, and part of that is that you have to answer to where the Latino voter is, not where you want the Latino voter to be,” Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona told CBS News.
“There has been this want by special, very liberal organizations and very liberal donors and very liberal groups that they want Latinos to be liberal, and the fact is not all of them are,” he said.
