Last month, I spoke with several Hispanic GOP candidates who were running to flip seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Several of the candidates pointed out that Hispanics are leaning toward the Republican Party more than ever before over. One of the reasons why is illegal immigration.
“The Democratic Party completely just abandoned the Hispanic community’s values and the Hispanic community’s needs,” Rep. Mayra Flores told me in an interview, noting that her congressional district is 90 percent Hispanic. “So many of us, like myself, who immigrated to the United States, we came here for opportunities, and we see that those opportunities are being taken away from us and that our kids are not going to be able to have the same opportunities that we had being born here in the United States.”
A midterm election exit poll released this week from Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA found that Hispanics in the United States favor stronger border security measures and reducing illegal immigration.
In the findings, 57 percent of Hispanic voters said they believe the government is doing too little to reduce border crossings and visitors who overstay in the United States. Sixty-two percent said that the U.S. government should be adding no more than 750,000 new immigrants annually.
A majority of respondents, 64 percent, said the government should mandate that all employers use the federal E-Verify system to ensure only legal U.S. residents are employed. Fifty-six percent said that they favor immigration policies that prevent illegal border crossings and illegal immigrants from getting jobs in the United States.
Other findings showed that 50 percent of Hispanics voted Democrat in the midterm elections, while 40 percent voted Republican. Just over thirty percent of respondents said that the Biden administration is “good” or “excellent” at handling the border. Forty-four percent disagreed.
Among Hispanic voters who are Republican, 71 percent said the government is doing too little to prevent illegal immigration. Forty-nine percent of Hispanic Democrats and 60 percent of Hispanic voters not affiliated with either major party feel the same.
Seventy-one percent of Republicans, sixty-one percent of Democrats and 62 percent of voters not affiliated with either party said they support making E-Verify mandatory. The survey included 522 Hispanic midterm election voters.
“Hispanic voters are not different from other voters,” NumbersUSA Vice President of Operations Jim Robb said in a statement. “They want strong, secure borders and immigration policies that protect American workers’ jobs and wages.”
“This poll and recent election results show that immigration and border policies that protect American workers is increasingly attracting Hispanic Voters. If they want to continue to make gains among Hispanic voters the GOP needs to continue to stay strong on immigration and border security while the Democrats need to move to more restrictive immigration policies,” he added.