Democrats are facing a new challenge in their quest for national domination – the loss of support among Latino voters. It’s an alarming development for Democrats, who have spared no expense in welcoming what they perceived as their next voting base across the borders.
And nothing was quite as shocking as former President Donald Trump’s newest endorsement. The top-rated Spanish-speaking TV network Univision has done an about-face since the 2020 election and is now throwing its support behind the GOP frontrunner.
Univision is under new management following a merger between Mexico’s Grupo Televisa and the popular Spanish TV network.
And the former president is welcoming Univision to the Trump train with open arms. He recently welcomed three network executives for a Univision interview that stood out for its warmth and friendliness. The conversation started with a query about his standing among Latino voters in the initial polls for the general election, marking a departure from the usual hostile tone between Trump and Univision.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and an acquaintance of one of the executives, played a role in coordinating the interview. He was also in the room during the event, as disclosed by several individuals familiar with the event.
Enrique Acevedo, the Televisa journalist who conducted the November 7 interview with Trump for Univision, kicked off the discussion by highlighting the 45th president’s increasing popularity among Latinos. He pointed to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll published the previous week, revealing that Trump was trailing President Joe Biden among Hispanics by only single digits: 50 to 42 percent.
In contrast, the 2020 CNN exit polling showed Biden outpacing Trump by a significant margin of 65 to 32 percent among Latinos. A similar trend was observed in Pew Research findings, where Biden secured 59 percent support compared to Trump’s 38 percent.
But Trump’s support among Hispanics in the 2020 election marked a trending improvement from 2016, when Hillary Clinton secured 66 percent compared to Trump’s 28 percent, as reported by Pew Research.
When asked about his increasing support among Latinos, Trump admired the Latino community’s incredible qualities, emphasizing their skills, energy, and entrepreneurial spirit. He noted Univision’s strong entrepreneurial success and mentioned their positive feelings towards him.
Acevedo highlighted a Times poll indicating Trump’s lead over Biden in Arizona and Nevada, states with sizable Hispanic populations that Biden had won in 2020. Trump attributed the shift in priorities among Latinos to a growing concern for security and a desire for a secure border.
The Washington Post criticized Acevedo for not pushing Trump more rigorously during the interview. However, Acevedo defended his approach, emphasizing that as a reporter, his role is to ask questions with a focus on the answers. His goal was to let Trump’s responses speak for themselves, allowing the audience to form their judgments.
Unsurprisingly, the Washington Post was baffled by such an approach.
Univision aired the Trump interview during its prime 10 p.m. hour and opted not to allow the Biden campaign to run commercials during the broadcast as a counter-programming strategy. The network stated that the same policy would be upheld if Biden agreed to an interview with Univision.
The continued shift in Latino support toward Trump is a big problem for the Biden campaign. Latino voters have voiced dissatisfaction with President Biden’s economic policies, citing worries about inflation, job pay, rent prices, and healthcare. “There’s a lot of frustration and broken promises,” highlighted Andres Parra. Juan Manuel Ferreira Zamora echoed this sentiment: “When Trump was president, we didn’t have high gas prices and food inflation, and this is the truth.”
CNN reported the results of a New York Times and Siena College poll that indicated a narrowing gap between Biden and Trump among Latino voters, with Biden at 50% and Trump at 42%. But Biden is not just losing Latinos. He is feeling the loss of support among Black voters, too. A recent New York Times poll revealed increased support from Black voters in battleground states, further contributing to Trump’s gains. Trump’s current support among Black voters stands at 22%, a milestone unprecedented in modern presidential politics for any Republican candidate.
Biden’s ultra-progressive messaging is no longer breaking through the barriers. Black and Latino voters are more affected by inflation, and they tend to come from a strong religious background that condemns many popular Democrat policies such as LGBTQ+ activism and abortion.
The Biden campaign cautions voters that Biden needs another four years to “finish the job.” And that’s just what Americans fear most. What will another four years look like if a failed America isn’t Biden’s final game plan? Latino voters, now expressing buyer’s remorse, are the latest demographic that wants to stop the Biden train before it reaches its final destination.
