If you look at the results from the 2016 election — or listen to a lot of the rhetoric today — you might assume the Latino vote is locked in for the Democratic ticket. But a lot has changed since 2016.
According to polling from political opinion research firm Latino Decisions, back in 2016 only 18% of Latinos voted for President Donald Trump. But today, polls show that support for Trump from Latinos has gone up — by quite a bit.
Their data shows Latino’s support for Trump today at 28%. A June poll from the Pew Research Center shows 32% of Latinos supporting Trump going into this election. And Latino men, in particular, continue to make up a small but persistent portion of the president’s base.
So how did the numbers go up that much? Especially in light of the president’s harsh immigration rhetoric and policies.
According to Gabriel Sanchez, 2016 was an aberration.
Sanchez is a principal with Latino Decisions as well as a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. The Show spoke with him about the why behind this, and he said the answer is the same as it is for just about everything in 2020: The pandemic.
