Hispanics played key role in Biden’s 2020 win. Now they are tilting towards Trump
There are more than 36 million registered Hispanic voters in US.
Hispanic voters in the US have always favoured Democrats over Republicans. But that may not be the case with the current Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. Polls have revealed that Harris is performing poorly among Latino voters than any Democratic candidate since 2004. On the other hand, GOP candidate Donald Trump is having an impressive run, with more and more Hispanics now giving thumbs up to his anti-immigration rhetoric.
Working-class voters as well as younger men in the Hispanic community now prefer Trump over Harris, polls show.
‘Que mala’ Harris
With the Hispanic voters in mind, Trump’s host in Las Vegas and the multimillionaire president of Goya Foods, Bob Unanue recently coined a new term for the US vice president: “que mala” Harris. In Spanish, ‘que mala’ means “so bad.”
“Under Kamala — que mala … I don’t say that to get a buzz or as an insult, it’s reality. She is bad for this country, she is bad for Latinos,” said Unanue.
What polls reveal
Pew Research Center in early July found that support for both Trump and President Joe Biden, before he dropped out, among the Hispanic community stood at 36 per cent each, whereas 24 per cent backed Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Now that Kennedy has ended his campaign, Kamala Harris’support base has widened to 57 per cent, against Trump’s 39 per cent.
But a major sign of Harris’trouble is that her support among Hispanics remains much lower than what Biden had in 2020. In that election, 61 per cent of the Latino vote was for Biden and 36 per cent for Trump.
Why do Hispanics matter?
There are more than 36 million registered Hispanic voters in the US.
They constitute nearly 15 per cent of all voters in the US. Their number has increased substantially, by four million to be precise, since the 2020 elections.
Trump rises high in betting market
The US presidential election is now just three weeks away, and Trump has his largest lead over Harris in betting odds.
Prediction sites such as BetOnline, Polymarket, PredictIt, and Kalshi are putting their money on Trump’s victory now.
Kalshi platform showed Trump had a 54 per cent chance of winning the presidential election with Harris at 46 per cent as of Monday.
(With inputs from agencies)