General
Another Group the Democrats Should Stop Taking for Granted
During the 2024 campaign, President Trump portrayed Hispanic immigrants as “rapists,” “bloodthirsty criminals,” “animals,” “stone cold killers,” the “worst people” and the “most violent people on earth.” Myah Ward of Politico reported on Oct. 12 …
During the 2024 campaign, President Trump portrayed Hispanic immigrants as “rapists,” “bloodthirsty criminals,” “animals,” “stone cold killers,” the “worst people” and the “most violent people on earth.”
Myah Ward of Politico reported on Oct. 12, 2024 that “the former president has escalated his xenophobic and racist rhetoric against migrants and minority groups he says are genetically predisposed to commit crimes.”
Trump’s language, Ward continued, “is a stark escalation over the last month of what some experts in political rhetoric, fascism, and immigration say is a strong echo of authoritarians and Nazi ideology.”
Less than a month later, Trump set a record for a Republican presidential candidate, winning 46 percent of the Hispanic vote, 18 points more than the 28 percent he received in 2016 and 14 points more than his 32 percent in 2020.
Trump didn’t just defy the liberal assumption that his demonization of immigrants would cost him Hispanic voters; he turned those expectations upside down.
How did this happen?
Efrén Pérez, a professor of political science and psychology at U.C.L.A., provided an explanation in an email responding to my queries:
The fragility of their identity as Americans, Pérez argued, makes Hispanics particularly sensitive to any challenge to that identity:
These conflicting pressures, Pérez continued, show
It’s probable, in Pérez’s view — though not guaranteed — that the pro-Republican shift among Latino voters will continue:
The cross-pressures within the Latino electorate are evident in an analysis of survey data, “2024 Latino Voters Survey,” by Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy and journalism at U.S.C., and José E. Múzquiz, a Ph.D. candidate there.
