OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
When Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower in New York City in June 2015 and announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, he followed it up with a speech many political opponents claimed would end his bid as quickly as it began.
Trump focused on illegal immigration — some say he “attacked Mexico” and ‘insulted’ the country when he claimed it was “bringing their worst people” to the U.S., including criminals and “rapists.” He also vowed to build a “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The billionaire businessman was lampooned, ridiculed, and attacked for those remarks and the prediction was made that he completely lost the Hispanic vote. But like so many predictions made about Trump then — like, ‘He has no chance of beating Hillary Clinton’ — that was wrong.
By 2020, Trump had managed to secure a larger percentage of the Hispanic vote than he did in 2020; turns out that many Hispanics, especially those who live along the U.S.-Mexico border, are not fans of illegal immigration, either.
The 45th president made inroads with Hispanics and now the demographics’ trend toward Republicans is continuing, thanks in part to Trump’s economic policies and Democrats’ assaults on Hispanic cultural norms and traditions.
Just the News reports:
Donald Trump cut into Democrats’ traditional advantage with Hispanics during his four years in office, though Joe Biden still won a majority in the 2020 election among America’s fastest growing and largest minority population.
But America’s 46th president and his Democratic Party has been losing Latino support ever since, with new polling showing Republicans now dead even among Hispanic voters headed into the pivotal 2022 elections that will determine control of Congress.
Last month’s stunning GOP victories in Virginia only further highlighted Democrats’ losses, with one exit poll suggesting Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin captured a majority of the Hispanic vote with his focus on education and lower taxes.
It’s a dynamic that the news media can no longer ignore as Biden policies that opened the border, grew violent crime and exploded inflation alienated a constituency that had been long key to Democratic electoral strategies.
“The bottom line is Hispanics are one of the most entrepreneurial ethnic groups on the face of the earth, especially in this country, and the Biden policies have had a negative impact on their businesses and their communities,” Alfredo Ortiz, president of the Job Creators Network small business group who also served as a commissioner on the Trump White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, told the outlet.
His comments come on the heels of a shocking survey released by The Wall Street Journal last month showing that Democratic and Republican support among Hispanics is evenly split at 37 percent.
“Latinos are more and more becoming swing voters… They’re a swing vote that we’re going to have to fight for,” stated John Anzalone, a Democrat and one of the pollsters who was part of the Wall Street Journal survey.
🚨🚨 New poll from @WSJ shows a seismic shift among Hispanic voters:
☑️ Biden’s approval rating among Hispanics is 12 pts underwater
☑️ For the first time, Hispanics are now evenly split on the 2022 Congressional ballot
☑️ Biden is only +1 in a 2024 rematch with Trump pic.twitter.com/dHX1BPM2M0
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) December 8, 2021
“You see in this poll that there’s a group of Hispanic men who were without a doubt enticed by Trump and have become more Republican,” Anzalone noted.
In an interview with Fox News this week, freshman GOP Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida said that Democrats have simply failed the Hispanic community.
“We share the same values that are entrenched in the Republican party. God-fearing, law-abiding, tax-paying. Not only that, that we are Americans, we’re not socialists. We want to come into the country and we want to contribute,” Salazar told host Trey Gowdy.
“We have realized after 30 years, after Ronald Reagan who was the last president who gave this community any type of legality. We have realized after 30 years the Democratic party has been playing political football. So I said to my community that you got to be with whoever serves your values and whoever fixes your problems,” Salazar added.
“We come here for two things. We come because we know this is the promised land, we want to share those fruits. And we want to have a better economy. We want to be able to go from rags to riches which is what this American exceptionality promises.”
