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How Donald Trump Became More Popular Among Hispanics

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Despite the 2020 election results, Donald Trump radically increased the number of Latinos voting Republicans, according to a recent poll by Axios.

The poll shows how the Hispanic vote has declined in Democratic trends as they migrate toward Republican ranks. How did Trump increase his Latino support?

The arrival of the pandemic in the world generated a new narrative that took hold in the American campaigns; in this sense Donald Trump changed his rhetoric towards the economic impact of the lockdowns and this produced a dramatic increase in the support that Latinos gave to the former president.

According to figures provided by Axios, the Latino Republican vote was motivated by the economic consequences that the lockdowns would have (and had) on businesses and schools.

Latino republican
The Latino Republican vote in 2016 is minimal compared to the jump in 2020, according to recent figures. (Flickr)

Experts involved in the polls determined that unlike native-born Americans, Latinos are more ideologically heterogeneous.

Latino Republicans favoring Trump

The numbers indicate that Trump’s growth among the Latino vote is an unprecedented one.

In Paterson, New Jersey, Trump improved his raw vote total by 126 % since 2016.

In Las Vegas, Trump increased his votes in places where there is a high concentration of Latinos, winning with 51 % more votes than in the election that brought him to the presidency.

He also increased his votes by 38 % in Milwaukee and 64 % in Arizona’s Maricopa County.

On the other hand, Biden presents tragic numbers for the Democrats in the Latino electorate, despite being in the White House, the president obtained 6% less votes than former candidate Hillary Clinton.

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Latinos for Trump was a massive Latino Republican movement that earned Trump’s victory in Florida (Flickr)

In the same places where Trump radically increased his support, Biden increased them minimally. In Paterson, NJ, he gained 6%.

In Milwaukee, Biden was down 4%, and in Maricopa, Biden got a 38% increase that still did not come close to Trump’s.

The most notable fluctuation in Latino votes occurred among Cubans in Florida. 15% of Cubans who voted for Clinton in 2016 switched their vote to Trump.

What’s interesting is that Trump improved his numbers among Latina women “surprisingly,” according to the researchers.

An analysis by U.C.L.A.’s Latino Policy & Politics Initiative shows that 17 million Hispanic voters turned out at the polls, up 30% from 2016, making it the highest turnout in history.

Latinos were more motivated by the economy than by migration

According to the research, Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric deterred much of the Latino vote from supporting him in 2016.

Axios/Equis reveals that an immigrant Amazon worker was asked about his support for the former president and responded that his reasons were economic.

latino, latinos, hispano, hispanos, voto latino, voto hispano, republicanos,
Trump’s performance improved among Latinos in general, but especially among women (Flickr)

The researchers commented in the report that, in order to win, Democrats must engage with Latinos instead of showing up every two to four years.

Rafael Valera, Venezuelan, student of Political Science, political exile in São Paulo, Brazil since 2017 // Rafael Valera, venezolano, es estudiante de Ciencias Políticas y exiliado político en São Paulo, Brasil desde 2017

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