The constantly growing Latino community in the United States has once again been key in these elections by not leaning as clearly as in previous elections for the Democratic Party, which would have ultimately favored tycoon Donald Trump in his aspirations to return to the White House four years after his departure.
More than 36 million Latinos, out of the 65 million living in the United States, were eligible to participate in these presidential elections. They are the racial and ethnic group with the greatest growth since the 2020 elections, so their political inclination is closely scrutinized and messages seeking to gain their support are frequent.
An exit poll published by NBC News shows that 53 percent of Latino voters identified themselves as Democrats, compared to 45 percent who said they were Republicans. According to the Axios portal, in the last fifty years a Democratic candidate had never won with a support threshold in this community below 64 percent.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party on this occasion, has lost ground especially among Latino men. 45 percent of these men voted in favor of Harris, while in the case of women the proportion rises to 61 percent, according to the NBC survey.
Trump seems to have convinced more Latinos in the swing states, key to reaching the necessary threshold in the Electoral College. In the case of Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral votes at stake, Trump has gone from obtaining 27 percent of votes among the Latino community to obtaining 42 percent in four years.
All this comes after a campaign in which the New York magnate has been particularly belligerent on immigration policy and which has left several controversies linked to Latinos, including a speech by a comedian who described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” during a rally.
