Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, long campaigning on the importance of legal immigration and border security, has continued to surge support from Latino voters, according to The New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who had been assigned by President Joe Biden to address the "root causes" of illegal migration, has struggled to win over Latino voters while Trump is maintaining a political edge on the issue, the Times reported.
The Biden-Harris administration has surged migrants into sanctuary states and cities, but the mass migration has cost Democrats support in that growing voter bloc, which is playing a larger role "in deciding control of the White House," according to the report.
Harris is underperforming the past three Democrat candidates for the White House and has become "vulnerable on a slate of top issues, including the economy, immigration, and crime," according to the Times' poll analysis.
Democrats still maintain a stranglehold on the majority in the estimated Latino vote in the poll, but Democrat presidential candidate vote support has declined 20 points since Trump's GOP candidacies began in 2016.
- 2016: Democrat 68%, Republican 28%.
- 2020: Democrat 62%, Republican 36%.
- 2024: Democrat 56%, Republican 37%.
It should be noted, just 22% of the likely Hispanic voters polled consider themselves Republican, compared to 38% considering themselves Democrat and 25% considering themselves independent (2% another party and another 12% do not know or refused to answer).
Latino voters told the Times they are open to Trump's immigration policies and expressed a desire for a change in White House leadership on the issue, leaving many Latino voters undecided in their 2024 presidential vote, according to the Times.
"The last Democrat to fall below 60% with Latino voters was John Kerry, the losing nominee in 2004," according to the Times' analysis. "Over a decade ago, roughly 70% of Latino voters backed President Barack Obama's re-election. Since then, Mr. Trump has eroded that support."
Trump has opened the eyes and the voting confidence of Latinos on his border policies.
"I have heard a lot of people say that he is racist, but I honestly don’t think he is racist," long-haul truck driver Jessie Saucedo, 39 and a former Obama voter, told the Times.
"All of the stuff was taken out of context."
Younger Latino voters are twice as likely to say Trump's policies help them versus the Biden-Harris administration's policies, according to the poll results.
The Times' poll of 902 Hispanic likely voters was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 6 by Siena College. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.