Immigration might be overrated as key to Hispanic voteJoe Biden won 65% of the Hispanic vote in the last presidential election. He campaigned on defending the working class and fixing the U.S. immigration system. Two years into his presidency, he has so far failed to do so, and Hispanic voters are increasingly deserting the Democratic Party. With the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, this Washington Examiner series, Taken For Granted, will look at how Biden and Democratic Party policies are failing to connect with the Latino electorate, how Donald Trump and Republicans have benefited, and how it could swing the November midterm elections.
Democrats, and some Republicans, may have exaggerated the centrality of immigration to winning over Hispanic voters.
This, in addition to the failure of Democrats to pass immigration legislation when they've controlled both the White House and Congress, could be a factor in Latinos emerging as a possible swing vote ahead of the midterm elections.
President Joe Biden campaigned on an immigration overhaul and has largely allowed a record migrant surge to continue at the border throughout most of his presidency, even as his job approval rating on the issue tumbled into the 30s in most polls.
Biden saw his national share of the Hispanic vote decline relative to Hillary Clinton in 2016. In parts of Texas and Florida, the losses were even worse, putting both states out of reach.
According to Civiqs, Biden’s job approval rating among Hispanics is 51% — improved from the summer and above his overall approval rating but well below his 65% vote share from this demographic in the last presidential race.
Biden and congressional Democrats sought to include immigration reforms in their sprawling reconciliation bill to address lagging support from Latinos. “Democrats are under pressure to find an immigration proposal that conforms with Senate budget rules ahead of a midterm election in which the party must motivate Hispanic voters to turn out,” is how a report in Bloomberg Government put it.
“I bring up every year that we’re slipping with Latino males who are becoming more and more cynical about the Democratic brand,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-IL), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s campaign arm, told the outlet. “The only thing they actually favor Democrats for is comprehensive immigration reform.”
The Senate parliamentarian ruled these immigration provisions were out of order as part of the partisan budget process. They did not end up in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act, the scaled-down bill that did finally emerge from reconciliation.
But in 2020, immigration ranked eighth among Hispanic voter concerns, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 50% of Hispanic men rated it as very important to their presidential vote...
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