A wave of support from Hispanic voters helped President Donald Trump sail to victory in the battleground states of Texas and Florida, squashing Democrats’ long-term hopes for electoral success given the growing Latino population i
In Texas, 41% to 47% of Hispanic voters supported Trump in several heavily Latino border counties in a Democratic stronghold, the Rio Grande Valley region.
Republicans claim that in Texas, President Trump’s campaign message before the coronavirus (COVD-19) pandemic, which centered on the economy and record low unemployment, resonated with voters.
“I think Latinos understand Trump can be coarse sometimes and can be uncouth, but then they take a look at his policies that a lot of Latinos embrace — pro-growth, entrepreneurial — these are all policies Latinos can embrace,” said Daniel Garza, president of The LIBRE Initiative, a Hispanic center-right organization, told NBC.
Garza said Trump’s performance in Texas was stunning because the Latino outreach in the Rio Grande “was very organic.” He added, “This was communication spread from one person to the next, about ‘look what was done on the economy, look at the results.”
Garza, who authored “The Turnout Gap: Race, Ethnicity, and Political Inequality in a Diversifying America,” said beyond economic issues, Mexican American voters in the Rio Grande Valley tend to be more conservative on the issues.
