By Donald Jeffries
The trends first seen in the 2020 election are worsening for Joe Biden and the Democrats. Hispanics have long been a loyal voting bloc for the Democrats, but they seem to be growing tired of empty rhetoric and pandering. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that just 26% of Hispanic voters surveyed approved of Biden’s job performance. This was the lowest mark of any demographic group.
“If Latinos are disapproving of the president’s performance, how might that translate into the congressional elections in November?” Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center, wondered. “That could translate in two ways. It could translate into Latinos choosing to support a non-Democratic candidate—whether that’s a Republican or an independent remains to be seen in the different congressional districts. But the other way that might happen is that Latino voters may not feel motivated to turn out to vote.”
Biden’s approval rating of 33% overall marked his lowest level yet. Surveys conducted with Hispanics are notoriously unreliable, primarily because of communication barriers. However, Biden’s overall approval numbers and the approval numbers specifically for Hispanics were down noticeably from a poll as recent as March 30, also conducted by the Quinnipiac pollsters.
“I think that, a lot of time, there’s this narrative in D.C. among Democrats that you only talk to Latinos about immigration,” noted Biden pollster John Anzalone. “Like, immigration is the 12th issue that they’re concerned about. Guess what? They’re concerned about the same things everyone else is concerned about. It’s always about the economy or inflation or health care or schools.”
Indeed, most polls indicate inflation as the most important issue with Hispanic voters, while they consider immigration no more urgent than the situation in Ukraine.
However, a March report by the Pew Research Center found that 50% of Hispanic voters are still leaning toward or certain to vote for the Democratic candidate in their districts, as opposed to 28% expressing loyalty to Republican candidates. That’s approximately the same numbers seen in polls taken before the 2018 election and may indicate there hasn’t been a massive shift in Hispanic party affiliation, but perhaps simply disenchantment with Biden.
“If Joe Biden continues to have low approval ratings, might it be people such as Republican Latinos really want to get out there and vote and Democratic Latinos may not show up to the polls as much as you might have expected?” asked Lopez. “And then that may make the Latino voter results look like a switch toward or move toward Republicans. But we don’t know if it was really that or if it was just a function of people deciding to turn out to vote or not.”
The increasing numbers of Hispanic voters, which is hard to judge due to the unknown number of illegals who have clearly voted in recent elections, make them a potentially significant demographic. Democratic Party strategist Kristian Ramos emphasized this, declaring:
There have been more early investments this cycle than there have been in previous midterm cycles. Absolutely. More people are putting money toward reaching Latinos, Latino voters, than we’ve seen in the past. Is it enough? Is it good enough? No. We need more, obviously. We need lots more.
The heavily Catholic Hispanic population is never likely to buy into the “woke” agenda revolving around “transgenderism,” seemingly opening the door for Republicans to make some headway. Most Hispanics have been deeply offended by the new politically correct term “Latinx,” which refers to all genders. Given their Catholic beliefs, it is also not surprising that most Hispanics are pro-life. In fact, polls have found that Hispanics are the only race or ethnicity where a majority of those responding believed that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
But polls also show that younger Hispanics are becoming majority pro-choice, another indicator of the influence America’s social justice warrior-dominated culture plays. Silvio Cuellar, the coordinator for Hispanic ministry in the Diocese of Providence, R.I., acknowledged this stark reality, stating, “The first-generation immigrants tend to be pro-life; but, as our kids go to college, they become much more secularized.”
Parish engagement strategist Gina De Los Santos explained that Latinos are more likely to identify as pro-family than as “pro-choice.” “We grow up with our grandparents and take care of them until they die,” she said. “And every grandmother understands the value of a child. Our families recognize that the baby in the womb has value, is a human being and is already part of the family.”
Studies have shown that Hispanic parents feel uncomfortable discussing sex with their children, making them unlikely to support today’s radical sexed-up public school agenda.
Republicans should be able to tap into these traditional values, but don’t bet on it. There’s a reason some people call it the Stupid Party.
