Matt reported this week how Latino voters in Nevada are threatening to stay home and sit out the midterm elections despite Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro, the first-ever Latina elected to the Senate, on the ballot. And data has shown the Republican Party has gained support from this demographic since former President Donald Trump ran for president.
An NBC News/Telemundo poll released this week shows that Democrats are losing Latino support ahead of the midterm elections. The GOP, on the other hand, is garnering support from this group.
When respondents were asked which party they’d like to see in control of Congress after the midterms, 54 percent of Latino voters picked Democrats. Thirty-three percent went with Republicans.
According to the New York Post, the 21-point edge is down from a 26-point lead in October 2020, 34 points from October 2016, and 42 points from October 2012.
In the poll, 51 percent of respondents approve of how Biden handles his job as president. Forty-five percent of respondents disapprove of his job performance.
NBC noted that the top issues have not changed since last month.
Asked what they consider to be the most important issue facing the country, 23% said the cost of living, 20% said “threats to democracy,” 17% said jobs and the economy and 11% said immigration and the situation at the border.
In NBC News’ national poll of all voters last month, the top responses — in order — were “threats to democracy” (20%), the cost of living (18%), jobs and the economy (16%) and immigration/border (12%).
Cost of living, border security, immigration, and the economy garner low ratings from Latinos. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said Biden’s economic policies had hurt them, whereas 33 percent said that Biden’s policies have helped.
Respondents pointed out that they thought the Republican party handled some of these top issues better than the Democrats.
They prefer Republicans over Democrats on the economy (38% say the GOP better handles the issue, versus 34% who say Democrats do), on border security (36%-33%) and on crime (36%-28%).
Thirty-one percent of respondents said that illegal immigrants and refugees should be immediately detained and sent back to their countries of origin. Broken down by political party, this includes 64 percent of Republican Latinos.
NBC pointed out noticeable differences between Latino men and women, Republicans and Democrats, Catholics and non-Catholics, and Latinos from California versus those in Florida and Texas.
“Latinos are an incredibly diverse community, and there are many segments of Latino voters — not just one Latino voter,” said Cardona-Arroyo, the Democratic pollster. Cardona-Arroyo conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff and his team at Public Opinion Strategies.
“While Latinos continue to lean toward the Democratic Party and prefer Democratic control of Congress, Republicans have a higher share of the vote than we’ve measured previously,” Cardona-Arroyo added.
“Being down by 20 points is a lot better [for Republicans] than being down by 40 points,” McInturff said, referring to past NBC/Telemundo surveys of Latino voters.