The Latino Vote

The Latino vote in the United States is the voting tendency of Americans of Latino descent or Latino immigrants who have become citizens. Discussions of the Latino Vote often include many groups of Latino Americans such as Mexican-Americans, Venezuelan-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Colombian-Americans, Puerto Ricans (Puerto Ricans, being American citizens, cannot vote on a national level so this refers to Puerto Ricans living within the contiguous US), and countless others.

The Latino vote by national identity

Mexican-Americans comprise 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of the Latino population in the US. They are one of the largest voting blocs especially in border states such as Texas and California. They, as well as Puerto Ricans living in Florida, are the backbone of the Democratic Party’s Latino base as they overwhelmingly vote with the Democrats in elections. This is generally thought to be because of the Democratic party’s openness towards undocumented immigrants who are often from Mexico or Central America.

Cuban-Americans, Venezuelan-Americans, and Colombian-Americans (the “CVCs”) are among the largest voting groups within the Latino Vote after Mexican-Americans. Because of cultural and historical reasons, their support for either party on the national stage has varied, but they’ve generally voted for the Republicans on a local level. In recent elections, and in part due to the surge of Venezuelan-American voters due to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, this has become a key voting bloc in the country.

Source: NBC News

The Latino vote by state

Texas and California have the highest number of Latinos in the United States–about 27 million, which is around half of the total population. The vast majority are of Mexican descent and they play a key role as a voting bloc that overwhelmingly favors the Democratic Party, with issues of concern regarding immigration, social equality, crime, etc. They are very influential especially in states like Texas where they are projected to be the “deciding vote” in upcoming elections where the State of Texas will most likely be a swing state.

Since 2016, CVCs have voted by slim margins for the Republican candidate in almost all elections. Generally speaking, they are grouped into one category because they vote similarly and predominantly exercise their political power through one state, Florida. This has been described as the “swing vote” for Florida and has meant, to many Foridans, that Florida is no longer a swing state but rather a leaning GOP state, playing a role similar to that of North Carolina or Iowa in current elections.

In other states, large populations of Latinos are overwhelmingly of Mexican descent and mainly vote Democrat. This is for very similar reasons to bordering state Mexican-American voters, and also due to labor, as labor unions are one of their main issues of concern due to lots of them working in “blue collar” jobs.

Political Impact

Most Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans voted with the Democrats in 2020 at all three levels (local, state, national) in states including California, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and many others. One of the major surprises of the Latino vote in the 2020 election was the overwhelming Republican support among Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent that identify as “100% American”), due in part to “overly lax” immigration (Herrera 2020).

For CVCs, the 2020 presidential election was a breaking point in their influence as a voting bloc after denying Joe Biden a victory in Florida, voting instead, albeit by a small margin, for Donald Trump. Because of this many political analysts have stopped referring to Florida as a Swing State.

Source: The New Yorker

What you can do to help:

The most important thing when discussing the Latino Vote is to acknowledge the diversity of Latinos and how political beliefs may vary. Make sure to stay informed about this issue so you can have a better understanding of it when discussing these important matters. Learn to differentiate between Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans, etc. and encourage your Latino friends to get out and vote!

Herrera, J. (2020, November 17). Trump Didn’t Win the Latino Vote in Texas. He Won the Tejano Vote. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/17/trump-latinos-south-texas-tejanos-437027