Are the democrats losing Hispanic voters?

Joe Biden received 66% of the Hispanic vote in 2020 – As of this post, he has a 19% approval rating in that demographic while 60% that strongly disapproves of his performance.  So, what does this mean?  Well, for starters, a good argument can be made that Hispanic voters are slowly moving away from the Democrat Party, compelling me to ask, why should an historically democrat bastion of support suddenly waver?

I’m neither a sociologist nor a pollster but I have a few thoughts on the matter.  And to be clear, there is no single reason.  Rather, there is a combination of reasons that when aggregated do not bode well for the democrats come November.

Let’s start with the fact that an overwhelming majority, those who share Hispanic or Latino origins reject the woke label “Latinx,” and instead view themselves as, to quote a Miami periodical, “…an extraordinarily diverse collection of people from very different ethnic, racial, geographic, cultural, and religious backgrounds,” and not a “Latinx monolith.”.  At the same time, many Latino voters don’t appreciate the politically correct demagoguery emanating from the Left regarding a number of current social issues including the trans debate where many took offense when President Biden said that henceforth the sexual identification “X” would be added to the American passport.

In addition, the vast majority of the Latino population is Christian; most are Catholics while others belong to various evangelical and Pentecostal sects, but regardless of the particulars, both political parties need to understand the Latino culture embraces religion and will gravitate to the party that is at least open to the same. And the fact that polling shows a distinct movement away from the democrats suggests that religion may be a factor to the degree it aligns with Hispanic identity.

Equis Research, an organization focusing on Latino voting habits, concludes that the social media attacks on the wokeness that’s become mantra of the Democrat Party have proven to be particularly effective.  Meanwhile, Spanish-language radio networks have also been successful in spreading conservative ideology while conservative political strategists have had no trouble identifying and seizing the political opportunity represented in the fragmented Latino vote.  As political strategist Nilsa Alvarez said, “Every area that our Hispanic teams mobilized in 2020, all of them went majority red.”

It may be true that many Americans vote for the party that promises their preferred policies, but it’s also true that Americans vote for the party that affirms their sense of self.  And many Hispanics prefer to identify with the purposes and values that unite us as Americans and support the party that appears to offer the same hopes and opportunities.

~ Equity ~ 

Meanwhile, as the president and his ‘diversity team’ focus on “Equity,” a term I once thought meant the difference between the market value of my home and its mortgage balance, the party continues to lose Hispanic voters.  And regarding equity (in the way the president uses the term) I’ll offer an opinion I haven’t read or heard expressed anywhere else–probably because it’s politically incorrect.  But in the United States, there has long been competition and racial prejudice between blacks and the Latino community.   And while blacks and Hispanics hold broadly favorable views of each other, Hispanics are less likely to say the two groups get along well.  So, perhaps the president’s brand of “equity” that focuses on equal outcomes for blacks instead of creating equal opportunity for them, has gotten under the collective skin of the American Hispanic community.

It’s also true that many Latinos identify as Black or of African descent and feel they’ve been placed on the sideline in the broader discussions of race and ethnicity, while others, for all the reasons cited above and more, are obsessed in demonizing the Black Lives Matter movement.

I cannot offer concrete answers as to the underpinnings of this shift in political loyalties and can only speculate based upon both personal observation, recent poll results and studies from the likes of Pew Research.  Nonetheless, with the mid-term elections just months away, it will be interesting to compare the voting demographics of 2022 to that of 2020.

Thought for the day: Can you imagine if Seinfeld aired today, how would Jerry and the gang handle 21^stcentury technology?  Between texts, Twitter and other social media, would they still miss each other at the movies and have problems picking someone up at the airport?  And can you imagine the possible scenarios of George on Match.com and Elaine using J-Date?  Just askin.’